w 


GIFT  OF 
Mrs.   A.    E.    Ysishon 


GENEKAL   GRANT. 


MARCHING  TO  VICTORY 


THE  SECOND   PERIOD 

OF 


THE  WAR  OF  THE  REBELLION 

INCLUDING  THE  YEAR   1863 


BY 

CHARLES   CARLETON   COFFIN 

AUTHOR  OF  "THE  BOYS  OF  '76"  "THE  STORY  OF  LIBERTY"  "OLD  TIMES  IN  THE  COLONIES' 
"BUILDING  THE  NATION"  "DRUM-BEAT  OF  THE  NATION"  &c. 


Jlltt0trat*b 


HARPER    ^BROTHERS    PUBLISHERS 
NEW  YORK  AND  LONDON 


BOOKS   BY 
CHARLES   CARLETON   COFFIN 

OLD   TIMES   IN   THE   COLONIES.     Illustrated.     8vo 
THE    BOYS   OF   76.     Illustrated.     8vo 
BUILDING    THE    NATION.     Illustrated.     8vo 
THE    DRUM-BEAT   OF   THE    NATION.     Illustrated.     8vo 
MARCHING   TO   VICTORY.     Illustrated.     8vo 
REDEEMING    THE   REPUBLIC.     Illustrated.     8vo 
FREEDOM    TRIUMPHANT.     Illustrated.     8vo 
ABRAHAM    LINCOLN.     Illustrated.     8vo 


HARPER  &  BROTHERS,  NEW  YORK 


Copyright,  1888,  by  Harper  &  Brothers 

Copyright,  1916,  by  Livonia  C.  Ware 
Printed  in  the  United  States  of  America 


Defctcatefc 

TO 

THE  VETERANS   OF  THE  ARMIES  OF  THE  UNION 

WHO  MADE  THE  FLAG  OF  OUK  COUNTRY 
THE  EMBLEM  OF  THE  WORLD'S  BEST  HOPE 


INTRODUCTION. 


"  1VT ARCHING  TO  VICTORY"  is  the  second  volume  of  the  series 
IT JL  relating  to  the  War  of  the  Rebellion,  covering  the  middle  period 
of  the  struggle  of  the  people  of  the  United  States  for  the  preservation  of 
the  Union.  It  treats  of  the  events  of  the  year  1863 — distinguished  by  a 
series  of  victories  to  the  armies  of  the  Union,  of  discomfiture  to  those  of 
the  Confederate  States. 

The  year  began  auspiciously  for  the  cause  of  the  Union  in  the  triumph 
of  the  Army  of  the  Cumberland  on  the  field  of  Stone  River,  in  Tennessee. 
Following  the  chronological  order  of .  events,  the  beginning  of  the  month 
of  May  witnessed  the  disastrous  defeat  of  the  Union  Army  of  the  Poto 
mac  at  Chancellorsville,  and  at  the  same  time  the  repulse  of  the  Confed 
erates  at  Suffolk,  in  Virginia. 

"While  these  events  were  transpiring  east  of  the  Alleghanies,  the  Union 
Army  of  the  Tennessee  began  a  strategic  movement  which  resulted  in  the 
victories  of  Port  Gibson,  Raymond,  Jackson,  Champion  Hills,  Big  Black 
River,  and  the  siege  of  Yicksburg. 

The  achievements  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  at  Gettysburg,  the 
Army  of  the  Tennessee  at  Yicksburg,  and  the  army  at  Port  Hudson  on 
the  Mississippi,  in  midsummer — the  severance  of  the  States  of  Louisiana, 
Texas,  and  Arkansas  from  the  other  States  of  the  Confederacy,  rendering 
co-operation  between  the  sections  impossible,  by  the  opening  of  the  great 
river  to  commerce,  under  the  protection  of  the  naval  forces — marked 
the  culmination  of  Confederate  power.  Taken  in  connection  with  the 
situation  of  affairs  in  England  and  France,  the  events  of  July  were  deci 
sive,  not  only  in  the  struggle  for  the  preservation  of  the  Union,  but  in  the 
history  of  civilization. 

During  the  summer  and  early  autumn  the  Confederates  in  Middle 
Tennessee  were  forced  to  abandon  that  State,  while  Eastern  Tennessee, 


viil  INTRODUCTION. 

which  had  been  loyal  to  the  Union,  was  brought  once  more  under  the 
protection  of  the  United  States.  These  successes  were  followed  by  the 
battle  of  Chickamauga — won  by  the  Confederates,  but  resulting  in  no 
advantage  to  the  Confederate  cause. 

The  closing  months  of  the  year  were  distinguished  by  Union  victories 
on  Lookout  Mountain,  Missionary  Ridge,  and  at  Knoxville,  and  by  the 
reducing  of  Fort  Sumter  to  a  shapeless  ruin,  a  heap  of  crumbled  masonry, 
with  every  gun  dismounted ;  while  from  Morris  Island  —  from  the  spot 
where  the  Confederates  had  inaugurated  the  war — Union  cannon  were 
raining  shells  upon  the  city  of  Charleston. 

During  the  year  the  Confederate  Government  saw  the  fading  away  of 
all  hope  of  recognition  as  a  nation  by  the  Government  of  Great  Britain. 
The  iron-clad  war  vessels  which  had  been  constructed  with  Confederate 
money  by  British  ship-builders,  and  which  were  intended  for  the  dispersion 
of  the  Union  fleets  blockading  Wilmington  and  Charleston,  and  which 
were  supposed  to  be  sufficiently  powerful  to  send  the  monitors,  one  by 
one,  to  the  bottom  of  the  sea,  were  prevented  from  leaving  English  ports 
by  the  order  of  the  British  Government,  which  had  been  compelled  to 
act  by  the  resolute  protest  of  the  United  States.  There  was  still  the 
glimmering  hope  that  through  the  interference  of  the  Emperor  of 
France  with  the  affairs  of  Mexico,  and  the  establishment  of  an  empire 
in  that  country  in  place  of  a  republic,  the  United  States  would  be  em 
broiled  in  a  foreign  war,  which  would  result  advantageously  to  the  Con 
federate  Government ;  but  in  this  the  Confederates  were  doomed  to  dis 
appointment. 

January  1,  1863,  will  ever  stand  in  history  as  the  day  upon  which 
four  millions  of  the  African  race  received  their  freedom  at  the  hands  of 
Abraham  Lincoln.  The  close  of  the  year  beheld  several  thousand  of  the 
able-bodied  men  thus  emancipated  from  slavery  voluntarily  enlisting  un 
der  the  Stars  and  Stripes  for  the  preservation  of  the  Union.  At  Fort 
Wagner  and  on  other  fields  the  colored  troops,  by  their  discipline,  cour 
age,  and  manhood,  manifested  their  right  to  citizenship. 

Other  victories  than  those  of  the  battle-field  were  achieved  during  the 
year.  The  prejudice  of  centuries  against  negroes  was  swept  away,  and  they 
became  citizens  of  the  republic,  entitled  to  equal  rights  and  privileges 
with  their  fellow-men. 

There  were  victories  not  only  in  the  Western  World,  but  beyond  the 
Atlantic,  where,  despite  all  the  efforts  of  the  nobility  and  aristocracy  of 
England,  and  of  the  trading  and  manufacturing  classes,  who  for  selfish 


INTRODUCTION.  ix 

ends  favored  the  cause  of  the  Confederacy,  the  people — the  toilers  and 
wage-earners  —  when  starvation  was  staring  them  in  the  face,  resolutely 
gave  their  allegiance  to  the  cause  of  the  Union,  comprehending  by  an 
instinct  more  true  and  subtle  than  reason  that  the  armies  of  the  Union 
were  fighting  a  battle  for  the  oppressed  of  every  land ;  and  so,  by  their 
steadfast  adherence  to  their  convictions,  the  Government  of  Great  Britain 
was  constrained  to  refrain  from  any  recognition  of  the  Confederacy, 
except  as  a  belligerent  power. 

In  this  volume,  as  in  the  "Drum-beat  of  the  Nation,"  I  have  endeav 
ored  to  set  forth  impartially  and  truly  the  cause,  scope,  and  meaning  of 
the  war  by  a  grouping  of  leading  events.  It  has  been  my  desire  to  lay 
aside  all  prejudice,  and  to  see  the  questions  at  issue  as  the  people  of  the 
seceding  States  saw  them,  duly  recognizing  their  sincerity  of  conviction 
and  adherence  to  the  idea  that  the  authority  of  the  State  was  greater  than 
that  of  the  Nation  ;  but  the  archives  of  the  Confederate  Government  bear 
witness  that  the  so-called  "  Rights  of  the  States  "  disappeared  almost  at 
the  beginning  of  the  war,  and  that  the  Confederate  Government,  through 
the  passage  of  the  Conscription  act,  became  a  military  despotism  waged 
only  for  the  preservation  of  a  government  based  on  slavery.  I  have 
endeavored  to  do  full  justice  to  the  endurance  of  hardship,  and  to  the 
bravery  of  the  soldiers  of  the  Confederacy,  and  the  great  ability  of  those 
who  commanded  them  ;  to  set  forth  truthfully  the  treatment  of  the  Union 
men  of  the  South  by  the  Confederate  Government,  the  attitude  of  the 
so-called  Peace  Party  of  the  Northern  States,  the  hatred  to  the  negro, 
the  opposition  to  the  Proclamation  of  Emancipation,  arid  the  enlistment 
of  colored  troops. 

To  comprehend  the  meaning  of  the  war,  we  must  ever  keep  in  mind 
the  nature  of  the  struggle -- that  it  was  between  free  and  slave  labor, 
between  aristocracy  and  democracy ;  a  contest  of  ideas  and  institutions 
marshalling  the  aristocracy  of  Great  Britain  on  the  side  of  the  Con 
federacy,  the  starving  spinners  and  weavers  — the  hard  -  working  men 
and  women  of  that  country  and  of  all  Europe  —  on  the  side  of  the 
United  States. 

Sophistries  and  false  issues  fade  away  with  the  flight  of  time,  and  as 
the  perspective  lengthens  we  are  able  to  comprehend  the  greatness  of  the 
struggle  and  its  influence  upon  the  world's  civilization. 

The  "  Drum-beat  of  the  Nation  "  and  "  Marching  to  Victory  "  have  not 
been  written  from  a  desire  to  picture  the  carnage  and  desolation  of  war. 
I  would  fain  shut  forever  from  my  eye  the  scenes  of  blood,  but  behind 


X  INTRODUCTION. 

the  lurid  pictures  are  the  sacrifice,  devotion,  and  loyalty  to  the  flag  of  our 
country,  as  the  emblem  of  the  most  beneficent  government  the  world  has 
ever  seen — the  loftiest  ideal  of  Justice,  Right,  and  Liberty  attained  by  the 
human  race.  I  write  that  the  present  and  future  generations  of  the  boys 
and  girls  may  know  that  through  such  sacrifice  and  devotion  the  great 
principles  upon  which  the  Government  of  the  United  States  was  estab 
lished  were  preserved  to  the  world. 

CHARLES  CARLETON  COFFIN. 
BOSTON,  September,  1888. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

PAGE 

THE  HOUR  OP  GLOOM 1 

CHAPTER  II. 
OTHER  COUNTRIES 16 

CHAPTER  III. 
IN  THE  SOUTH-WEST , 36 

CHAPTER  IV. 
GETTING  IN  REAR  OF  VICKSBURG 62 

CHAPTER  V. 
THE  ATLANTIC  COAST 83 

CHAPTER  VI. 
IN  VIRGINIA 99 

CHAPTER  VII. 
COTTON  FAMINE  IN  ENGLAND 114 

CHAPTER  VIII. 
BATTLE  OF  CHANCELLORSVILLE ^ .............  127 

CHAPTER  IX. 
SPRING  OF  1863 ,  160 

CHAPTER  X. 
CONFEDERATE  NORTHWARD  MARCH 177 

CHAPTER  XL 
AN  UNEXPECTED  BATTLE,.  .  200 


Xll  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  XII. 

PAGK 

LITTLE  ROUND  TOP 228 

CHAPTER  XIII. 
CEMETERY  RIDGE : 259 

CHAPTER  XIV. 
THE  OLD  FLAG  ON  THE  MISSISSIPPI 283 

CHAPTER  XV. 
MIDSUMMER,  1863 316 

CHAPTER  XVI. 
ASSAULT  ON  FORT  WAGNER 333 

CHAPTER  XVII. 
OPERATIONS  AGAINST  WAGNER  AND  SUMTER 351 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 
EAST  TENNESSEE 365 

CHAPTER  XIX. 

FROM  MURFREESBORO  TO   CHICKAMAUGA 385 

CHAPTER  XX. 
CHICKAMAUGA 401 

CHAPTER  XXL 
HOLDING  CHATTANOOGA 420 

CHAPTER  XXII. 
LOOKOUT  MOUNTAIN  AND  MISSIONARY  RIDGE 434 

CHAPTER  XXIII. 
DEFENCE  OF  KNOXVILLE , , . . .  456 

CHAPTER  XXIV. 
EVENTS  IN  VIRGINIA 462 

CHAPTER   XXV. 
CLOSE  OF  THE  YEAR  1863 471 

INDEX..  .  479 


ILLUSTRATIONS. 


General  Grant Frontispiece 

Stone  River,  Midnight,  December  31, 

1862 3 

The  Picket-guard 7 

Oliver  P.  Morton 11 

Gen.  H.  B.  Carrington 13 

Charles  Francis  Adams 16 

Lord  John  Russell 17 

Hon.  William  H.  Seward 19 

John  M.  Mason 22 

JohnSlidell 23 

Prince  Albert 25 

Emperor  Napoleon  III 27 

Capture  of  the  Harriet  Lane 37 

Fort  Hindman  at  Arkansas  Post 40 

Destruction  of  the  Westfield 41 

United  States  Sloop-of-war  Hartford 44 

Farragut  passing  the  Batteries  at  Port 

Hudson 45 

Port  Hudson 48 

Fooling  the  Confederates 49 

Cutting  the  Canal 53 

Providence  Lake  Expedition 54 

Experiment  by  Moon  Lake 55 

Experiment  by  Steele's  Bayou. 56 

Steamboats  in  the  Woods 57 

March  through  the  Swamp 59 

Running  the  Batteries  at  Vicksburg 63 

Grant's  Movement  in  Rear  of  Vicksburg  69 

Champion  Hill 69 

Crocker's  Charge 71 

Grierson's  Raid 74 

Battle  of  Big  Black  River  Bridge 75 

Destroying  the  Railroad 78 

Grierson  entering  Baton  Rouge 79 


The  Iron-mills 84 

Destruction  of  the  Nashville  by  the  Iron 
clad  Monitor  Montauk 85 

Bombardment  of  Sumter 89 

The  New  Ironsides 94 

Deserted  Negro  Cabins 97 

The  Army  of  the  Potomac  in  Huts 101 

In  the  Storm 105 

General  Hooker 107 

Shipping  Cotton  to  England  before  the 

War 115 

The  Meeting  in  Exeter  Hall 117 

The  George  Griswold  at  Liverpool 121 

Burning  of  the  Jacob  Bell  by  the  Flor 
ida * 125 

Map  of  Chancellorsville 133 

Wilderness  Church 138 

Where  Stonewall  Jackson  was  Shot 144 

Chancellorsville  House 146 

Close  of  the  Battle — Repulse  of  the  Con 
federates  . . . , 153 

Salem  Church 157 

Gen.  J  E.  B.  Stuart 166 

Brandy  Station 169 

Battle  of  Brandy  Station 171 

Map  of  Cavalry  Engagements  at  Aldie 

and  Upperville 179 

Beginning  of  the  Fight  at  Upperville. ..  181 

General  Reynolds 187 

General  Meade 191 

Movement  of  Union  Army  to  Gettys 
burg  192 

Burning  of  Columbia  Bridge 193 

Position  of  Union  and  Confederate  Ar 
mies,  Sunset,  June  30,  1863 196 


XIV 


ILLUSTRATIONS. 


Major-general  Buford 198 

Theological  Seminary 200 

Where  the  Battle  began 202 

Opening  of  Battle  at  Gettysburg,  8  A.M., 

July  1,  1863 203 

John  Burns 204 

John  Burns  brought  to  his  House  after 

the  Battle 205 

Beginning  of  Infantry  Engagement,  10 

A.M.,  July  1, 1863 206 

Capture  of  Confederates  in  the  Railroad 

at  Gettysburg 208 

Railroad  Excavation 209 

Pennsylvania  College 210 

Gen.  O.  O.  Howard 211 

View  from  Position  held  by  Baxter's 

Brigade,  looking  east 212 

First  Day  at  Gettysburg,  at  3  P.M 213 

Where  Wilkeson's  Battery  and  the  Sev 
enteenth  Connecticut  stood 217 

Bayard  Wilkeson 218 

First  Corps — Seminary  Ridge,  3.30  P.M., 

July  1,  1863 221 

Major-general  W.  S.  Hancock 224 

General  Meade's  Headquarters 229 

General  Lee's  Headquarters 230 

Entrance  to  the  Cemetery 232 

Josephine  Miller  and  her  Stove 234 

Peach  Orchard 236 

Gen.  Daniel  E.  Sickles 237 

Position    of    Union    and    Confederate 

Troops,  3.30  P  M. ,  July  2 238 

Bigelow's,  Phillips's,  and  Clark's  Batter 
ies  going  into  Position 241 

Hazlett's  Battery 247 

The   Ninth   Massachusetts   Battery  by 

Trestle's  House 251 

Attack  on  Cemetery  Hill 253 

Trostle's  Door-yard — Day  after  the  Bat 
tle  255 

Where  Weiderick's  Battery  stood 257 

Attack  of  Pickett's  and  Anderson's  Di 
visions  267 

View  from  Little  Round  Top 273 

Position  of  Troops  third  day  at  Gettys 
burg  275 

Cavalry  Engagement — third  day 278 

Map  of  the  Siege  of  Vicksburg 286 


The   Attack    upon    Vicksburg  on  the 

North  Side  of  the  City 287 

Huts  on  the  Hill-side 291 

Intrenchments  of  McPherson's  Corps. . .  295 

Sharp-shooters 299 

Blowing  up  the  Fort 301 

Grant  and  Pemberton 305 

Arrival  of  the  Union  Fleet  at  Vicksburg  309 

Map  of  Port  Hudson 311 

Arrival  of  the  Steamer  Imperial 312 

Saluting  the  Old  Flag  at  Port  Hudson. .  313 
Burning  of  the  New  York  Colored  Or 
phan  Asylum 323 

Hanging  a  Negro 325 

Dragging  Colonel  O'Brien's  Body 327 

The  Rioters  and  the  New  York  Seventh 

Regiment 328 

Morgan's  Raiders 329 

Fort  Wagner,  from  the  Channel 333 

Map  of  Charleston  and  Vicinity 335 

Bombardment  of  Fort  Wagner 339 

Mortar  Battery  before  Wagner 341 

Col.  Robert  G  Shaw 342 

The  Tacony  burning  Merchant -vessels 

and  Fishing-craft 353 

Digging  Trenches  and  mounting  Guns  .  355 
Union  Sharp-shooters  in  Front  of  Fort 

Wagner 356 

Capture  of  the  Atlanta 357 

Map  of  Approaches  to  Wagner 360 

Appearance  of  Sumter  after  Six  Days' 

Bombardment 361 

Interior  of  a  Mountaineer's  Home   in 

Tennessee 366 

Corn-mill  in  East  Tennessee 367 

Andrew  Johnson 369 

W.  G  Brownlow 371 

Union  Refugees 373 

Hanging  Union  Men  in  Tennessee 375 

Burnside's  Reception  at  Knoxville 379 

Burnside's  Army  occupying  Cumberland 

Gap 380 

Massacre  of  the  Citizens  of  Lawrence  . .  382 
Drawing  Artillery  through  the  Mount 
ains  387 

Map  of  Kentucky  and  Tennessee 389 

Rosecrans's  Movement  to  Chickamauga  390 
Lookout  Mountain,  September,  1863  ...  393 


ILLUSTRATIONS. 


xv 


PA  en 

Map  of  the  Battle  of  Chickamauga 403 

Thomas's  Corps  at  Chickamauga 411 

Major-general  George  H.  Thomas 414 

Confederate  Riflemen   Firing    upon    a 

Union  Wagon-train 423 

Position    of   Union    and    Confederate 

Troops,  November  22, 1863. , 426 

View  from  the    Summit    of  Lookout 

Mountain , , 427 

Hazen's  Brigade  Landing 429 

Steamer  Chattanooga,  built  by  the  Sol 
diers  . .  .432 


Chattanooga  and  the  Encampments  of 
the  two  Armies 435 

Capture  of  Confederate  Works  by  Cra 
ven's  House,  on  Lookout  Mountain, 
by  Hooker's  Corps 439 

Battle  of  Lookout  Mountain 443 

Rebel  Battery  on  the  Top  of  Lookout 
Mountain 447 

Capture  of  Confederate  Cannon  on  Mis 
sionary  Ridge 453 

Attack  of  Longstreet  on  Fort  Sanders. .  459 

Averill's  Troop  in  a  Storm 469 


MARCHING  TO  VICTORY, 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE    HOUR    OF    GLOOM. 

r  I  ^HEKE  has  been  no  other  night  in  the  history  of  our  country  like 
-*-  that  of  December  31,  1862.  On  the  banks  of  Stone  River,  in  Ten 
nessee,  the  soldiers  of  the  Army  of  the  Cumberland  were  lying  where 
they  had  fought  through  the  day,  with  the  dead  and  dying  around  them. 
They  had  been  driven  from  their  chosen  position  of  the  morning,  and 
the  conflict  was  still  undecided.  Those  whose  duty  it  was  to  care  for 
the  wounded  were  out  upon  the  field,  where  the  battle  had  raged  most 
fiercely,  groping  their  way  in  the  darkness  or  by  the  dim  light  of  lanterns 
searching  for  the  wounded.  For  this  army,  which  had  marched  through 
snow  and  sleet  and  rain  from  their  camp  at  Nashville  to  attack  an  army 
superior  in  number,  New- Year's  greetings  were  to  be  from  the  cannon's 
brazen  lip,  and  the  morning  was  to  be  ushered  in  with  a  renewal  of  the 
strife — the  giving  up  of  other  lives  that  the  nation  might  live. 

The  soldiers  of  the  Confederate  army  opposing  them  were  hovering 
around  their  bivouac  fires  congratulating  themselves  over  the  success 
which  had  attended  them  through  the  day,  and  looking  forward  to  the 
morning  of  the  New  Year  with  confident  expectation  of  completing  the 
victory.  They  were  animated  by  a  lofty  idea — truly  believing  that  they 
'were  fighting  for  liberty  and  independence. 

On  the  banks  of  the  Mississippi  between  Memphis  and  Yicksburg  were 
the  soldiers  of  the  Union,  who  had  won  victories  at  Donelson,  Shiloh,  Cor 
inth,  luka,  who  had  vainly  tried  to  gain  the  bluffs  of  Chickasaw  near 
Yicksburg,  but  who  were  determined  that  the  Father  of  Waters  should 
flow  from  its  source  to  the  sea  through  an  undivided  country,  whose  em 
blem  of  sovereignty  should  ever  be  the  Stars  and  Stripes. 
1 


MARCHING  TO  VICTORY. 

From  the  bluffs  of  Yicksburg  the  Confederate  soldiers  of  the  army 
under  General  Pemberton  could  look  down  upon  the  winding  river  and 
behold  in  the  distance,  upon  the  moonlit  waters,  the  fleet  of  Union  gun 
boats  which  had  opened  the  river  southward  to  that  point,  but  which 
were  powerless  to  drive  them  from  their  stronghold.  With  Yicksburg  and 
Port  Hudson  in  their  possession,  with  heavy  cannon  high  above  the 
stream,  they  could  send  a  plunging  fire  upon  the  Federal  craft  and  hold 
the  gate-ways  of  the  mighty  river  against  all  assault.  Never  by  any  at 
tack  from  gunboats  could  those  places  be  taken. 

On  that  last  night  of  the  year  the  soldiers  of  the.  Army  of  the  Poto 
mac,  around  their  camp-fires  on  the  Stafford  hills  opposite  Fredericksburg. 
in  Virginia,  were  thinking  of  loved  ones  at  home,  of  peaceful  scenes  far 
away,  of  those  who  never  again  would  keep  step  to  the  drum-beat,  who 
had  gone  down  in  battle,  or  whose  lives  had  ebbed  away  in  the  hospital. 
Twenty  months  had  passed  since  the  humiliation  of  the  flag  they  loved  at 
Fort  Sumter ;  great  battles  had  been  fought ;  they  had  seen  more  defeats 
than  victories.  They  had  been  so  near  to  Richmond  that  in  the  silent 
hours  of  night,  or  on  the  calm  still  Sabbath  morn,  they  could  hear  the 
church-bells  of  the  city  toll  the  hours.  Then  came  Seven  Pines,  Gaines 
ville,  Fair  Oaks,  Glendale,  and  Malvern.  Upon  the  plains  of  Manassas, 
through  mismanagement,  inefficiency,  jealousy,  want  of  co-operation  on 
the  part  of  those  in  command,  there  had  been  defeat  and  disaster.  From 
their  camp  on  that  closing  night  of  the  year  they  could  look  across  the 
Rappahannock  to  the  field  where  twelve  thousand  of  their  comrades  had 
fallen  in  battle.  They  could  claim  only  one  great  victory — Antietam. 

The  sentinels  of  the  Confederate  army  encamped  upon  the  heights  of 
Fredericksburg,  triumphant  on  so  many  hard -fought  fields,  could  auda 
ciously  fling  their  sarcastic  taunts,  their  jests  and  gibes,  across  the  gleam 
ing  river  to  the  soldiers  of  the  Union  and  inquire  how  soon  the  Army  of 
the  Potomac  was  going  to  march  into  Richmond. 

When  the  war  began,  the  people  throughout  the  country,  North  and 
South  alike,  confidently  expected  that  it  would  soon  be  over,  not  compre 
hending  that  it  was  to  be  a  struggle  for  supremacy  between  ideas  and 
institutions. 

The  people  of  the  Southern  States  seceded  from  the  Union  and  formed 
a  confederacy  to  maintain  what  they  sincerely  regarded  as  the  rights  of 
the  States.  They  looked  upon  the  election  of  Abraham  Lincoln  as  a  men 
ace  to  the  institution  of  slavery,  which  they  had  come  to  believe  was  di 
vinely  established  by  Almighty  God — that  it  was  the  best  form  of  society 
for  the  Southern  States.  They  were  determined  to  be  free  and  indepen- 


THE   HOUR   OF  GLOOM.  5 

dent.  The  Confederate  soldiers  did  not  see  that  their  sacrifice,  valor,  and 
devotion  were  in  reality  given  for  the  continuance  of  an  institution  which 
ever  would  widen  the  distance  between  the  rich  and  the  poor,  which  estab 
lished  class  distinction  and  degraded  labor — that  they  were  in  truth  hero 
ically  fighting  against  their  own  best  welfare.  Many  thousand  soldiers  in 
the  Confederate  army  had  enlisted  voluntarily  to  sustain  the  Confederacy, 
but  other  thousands  were  there  not  from  their  own  free  choice. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  conflict,  when  the  drum  -  beat  was  heard  in 
every  village  and  hamlet,  there  had  been  a  quick  mustering  of  men  in  the 
South  as  in  the  North,  alike  inspired  by  a  lofty  patriotism :  one  for  inde 
pendence,  the  other  for  the  Union.  In  the  Southern  States  they  enlisted 
for  one  year,  under  the  expectation  that  before  the  end  of  the  twelve 
month  their  independence  would  be  secured ;  but  the  outcome  of  events 
indicated  a  desperate  and  long-continued  struggle.  Patriotic  ardor  in  the 
midwinter  of  1862  no  longer  brought  volunteers  to  fill  up  the  ranks 
thinned  by  battle  and  disease.  With  the  opening  of  the  year  the  Con 
federate  Government  beheld  with  alarm  the  dying  out  of  the  early 
enthusiasm.  The  term  for  which  the  soldiers  had  enlisted  would  soon 
expire.  No  stirring  appeals  could  induce  them  to  re-enlist.  They  had 
fought  valiantly  to  preserve  their  rights,  but  they  saw  State  sovereignty 
and  good  faith  disappear  in  a  twinkling.  The  Confederate  Congress  in 
secret  session,  April  16th,  under  an  iron-clad  rule  which  limited  discussion 
to  ten  minutes^1)  passed  a  law  which  took  all  able-bodied  citizens  between 
the  ages  of  eighteen  and  thirty -five  from  the  control  of  the  States  and 
placed  them  under  the  control  of  Jefferson  Davis  during  the  war,  and 
which  annulled  all  the  contracts  and  terms  of  enlistment  made  with  the 
volunteers,  declaring  that  they  must  serve  two  years  longer,  or  to  the  end 
of  the  war.  It  was  an  arbitrary  assumption  of  power,  a  gross  violation  of 
public  faith  with  the  individual  soldiers,  under  the  plea  of  military  neces 
sity,  and  a  complete  abandonment  of  the  principle  of  the  sovereignty  of  the 
States,  to  maintain  which  they  had  seceded  from  the  Union  and  inaugu 
rated  the  war.  All  rights  and  liberties  were  swept  away  by  the  act,  which 
fell  like  a  thunder-bolt  upon  the  people.  Said  the  Governor  of  Arkansas : 

"Arkansas  severed  her  connection  with  the  United  States  upon  the 
doctrine  of  State  Sovereignty.  She  has  lavished  her  blood  in  support  of 
the  Confederacy.  She  did  this  because  she  believed  that  when  the  evil 
hour  came  upon  her  the  Confederate  flag  would  give  success  to  the  peo 
ple.  It  was  for  liberty  she  struck,  and  not  for  subordination  to  any  cre 
ated  secondary  power  North  or  South." 

From  that  hour  to  the  end  of  the  war  the  people  of  the  Confederate 


6  MARCHING   TO   VICTORY. 

States  could  no  longer  claim  to  be  fighting  to  maintain  what  their  Gov 
ernment  had  deliberately  abandoned. 

"This  is  the  rich  man's  war  and  the  poor  man's  fight,"(2)  were  the 
words  of  John  M.  Botts,  of  Warrenton,  Virginia,  He  had  been  a  member 
of  Congress  before  the  war,  and  had  opposed  secession.  He  saw  that  th6 
great  slave-holders  were  staying  at  home  with  their  slaves,  and  that  the 
poor  men  who  had  no  slaves  were  to  be  forced  into  the  army.  A  few  days 
before  the  passage  of  the  bill  Mr.  Botts  expressed  himself  strongly  against 
the  proposed  measure,  and  for  giving  voice  to  his  opinion  suddenly  found 
himself  in  a  filthy  jail  in  Richmond,  without  chair,  or  table,  or  any  fur 
niture,  where  no  one  was  permitted  to  see  him.  This  his  testimony : 

"More  than  one  hundred  and  fifty  persons  were  in  like  manner  con 
fined.  Many  of  them  were  sent  to  Salisbury,  North  Carolina,  where  some 
went  crazy  and  many  died.  In  the  Richmond  prison  they  had  the  naked 
floors  for  a  pallet,  a  log  of  wood  for  a  pillow,  the  ceiling  for  a  blanket. 
At  Salisbury  it  was  still  worse.  They  were  exposed  to  all  the  weather — 
cold  rains  and  burning  suns  alternately.  But  the  object  in  view  was 
effected  by  my  arrest  and  imprisonment  and  that  of  others.  It  effectually 
sealed  every  man's  lips.  All  were  afraid  to  express  opinions  under  the 
reign  of  terror  and  despotism  that  had  been  established  in  Richmond. 
Every  man  felt  that  his  personal  liberty  and  safety  required  silent  sub 
mission  to  the  tyranny  of  the  Confederacy." 

Mr.  Foote,  of  Tennessee,  member  of  the  Confederate  Congress,  ani 
mated  by  humane  sentiments,  and  indignant  at  the  exercise  of  arbitrary 
power,  endeavored  to  obtain  the  release  of  the  prisoners  thus  confined. 
He  says  : 

"  I  obtained  from  the  superintendent  of  the  prison-house  in  Richmond, 
under  the  official  sanction  of  the  Department  of  War  itself,  a  grim  and 
shocking  catalogue  of  several  hundred  prisoners  then  in  confinement  there 
in,  not  one  of  whom  was  charged  with  anything  but .  suspected  political 
infidelity,  and  this,  too,  not  upon  oath  in  a  single  instance.  Before  I 
could  take  proper  steps  to  procure  the  discharge  of  these  unhappy  men, 
the  second  suspension  of  the  writ  of  liberty  occurred,  and  I  presume  that 
such  of  them  as  did  not  die  in  jail  remained  there  until  the  fall  of  Rich 
mond  into  the  hands  of  the  Federal  forces"^) 

Wielding  despotic  military  power,  and  having  silenced  every  opposing 
voice,  the  Confederate  Government,  by  the  Conscription  act,  gathered  in 
as  needed  all  able-bodied  men — at  first  those  between  eighteen  and  thirty- 
five  ;  later  in  the  war  extending  the  act  to  conscript  all  under  sixty  years 
of  age — into  the  army. 


THE    HOUR   OF    GLOOM. 


At  the  close  of  1862  the  Confederates  had  much  reason  for  believ 
ing  that  they  would  ultimately  secure  their  independence,  and  for  the 
confidence  which  they  expressed  of  attaining  that  end.  This  the  greet 
ing  of  the  Charleston  Courier  to  its  readers  on  New  -  Year's  morning : 


THE   PICKET-GUARD. 

"That  we  shall  conquer  a  peace  is  now  beyond  a  peradventure  settled.. 
If  the  doubt  ever  existed,  it  no  longer  exists." 

These  the  words  of  the  Charleston  Mercury :  "  The  new  year  comes 
in  with  cheerful  face.  Amid  the  desolation  of  ruined  homesteads,  the 
wreck  of  private  fortunes,  and  the  sacrifice  of  lives,  the  great  cause  pros 
pers.  East,  the  foe,  beaten  and  disheartened,  has  fled  from  our  matchless 
army.  West,  the  fierce  struggle  for  the  Mississippi  Valley  has  begun, 


8  MARCHING  TO  VICTORY. 

and  amid  the  din  and  tumult  of  the  unequal  combat  are  distinguished  the 
shouts  of  victory." 

"  The  future  is  bright  with  hope,"  were  the  words  of  the  Richmond 
Whig. 

President  Davis,  in  his  message  to  Congress,  said :  "  We  are  justified 
in  asserting  with  pride  that  the  Confederate  States  have  added  another  to 
the  lessons  taught  by  history  for  the  instruction  of  man — that  they  have 
afforded  another  example  of  the  impossibility  of  subjugating  a  people 
determined  to  be  free.  .  .  .  The  determination  of  this  people  has  become 
unalterably  fixed  to  endure  any  sufferings  and  continue  any  sacrifices, 
however  prolonged,  until  their  rights  to  self-government  and  the  sover 
eignty  and  independence  of  those  States  shall  have  been  triumphantly 
vindicated  and  firmly  established." 

Of  the  Proclamation  of  Emancipation  issued  by  President  Lincoln, 
Jefferson  Davis  said :  "  We  may  leave  it  to  the  instincts  of  that  common 
humanity  which  a  beneficent  Creator  has  implanted  in  the  breasts  of  our 
fellow-men  of  all  countries  to  pass  judgment  on  a  measure  by  which  sev 
eral  millions  of  human  beings  of  an  inferior  race,  peaceful  and  contented 
laborers  in  their  sphere,  are  doomed  to  extermination,  while  at  the  same 
time  they  are  encouraged  to  a  generous  assassination  of  their  masters  by 
the  insidious  recommendation  to  abstain  from  violence  unless  in  necessary 
defence.  Our  own  detestation  of  those  who  have  attempted  the  most 
execrable  measure  recorded  in  the  history  of  guilty  man  is  tempered  by 
the  profound  contempt  for  the  impotent  rage  which  it  discloses." 

In  the  Confederate  Congress  Mr.  Foote  presented  a  resolution  to  the 
effect  that  the  Southern  States  would  never  consent  to  any  armistice  or  re- 
construction (4)  until  the  Emancipation  Proclamation  was  revoked ;  that 
there  should  be  no  negotiation  for  a  cessation  of  the  war  except  upon 
the  basis  of  a  recognition  of  the  Confederacy ;  that  there  should  be  no 
alliance,  commercial  or  political,  with  the  New  England  States,  but  that 
the  North-western  States  should  have  assurance  of  the  free  navigation  of 
the  Mississippi  whenever  they  should  withdraw  from  the  Union. 

A  great  crisis  confronted  the  people  of  the  Northern  States.  The 
year  closed,  with  the  battle  of  Stone  River  undecided.  General 
Grant,  who  had  been  moving  in  rear  of  Vicksburg,  had  been  compelled 
to  retreat  ("Drum-beat  of  the  Nation,"  p.  453).  General  Sherman  had 
been  repulsed  at  Chickasaw  Bluffs,  and  General  Burnside  at  Fredericks- 
burg.  Discouraging  as  were  these  military  events,  there  were  political 
events  far  more  disquieting  to  loyal  hearts.  A  new  Congress  had  been 
elected.  In  the  Congress  then  in  session,  and  which  would  end  on  March 


THE   HOUR  OF   GLOOM.  9 

4th,  there  were  seventy-eight  members  who  supported  President  Lincoln 
to  thirty-seven  opposed  to  his  administration  ;  in  the  new  Congress  there 
would  be  only  fifty-seven  upon  whom  he  could  rely  for  support,  while 
sixty-seven  would  be  opposed  to  him.  In  the  elections  New  York,  Penn 
sylvania,  Ohio,  Indiana,  and  Illinois,  which  had  voted  for  him  in  1860, 
with  so  many  true-hearted  soldiers  in  the  field  fighting  for  the  flag,  now 
cast  majorities  against  him.  Many  men  who  voted  for  him  two  years  be 
fore,  who  had  given  all  their  energies  for  the  prosecution  of  the  war  for 
maintaining  the  Union,  now  turned  against  him  because  he  had  issued 
the  Proclamation  of  Emancipation.  At  the  beginning  of  the  war  they 
called  themselves  War  Democrats ;  but  now  they  joined  those  who  called 
themselves  Peace  Democrats,  who  did  not  wish  to  see  the  slaves  set  free, 
and  who  gave  their  sympathies  to  the  South,  claiming  that  the  President 
had  no  Constitutional  right  to  coerce  a  State  to  remain  in  the  Union. 
Some  of  them  had  spoken  bitter  words  in  denunciation  of  President  Lin 
coln  ;  and  when  called  to  account  by  their  neighbors  who  were  loyal  to 
the  flag,  had  taken  the  oath  of  allegiance  and  had  been  allowed  to  go  about 
their  business.  The  soldiers  called  them  "  Copperheads,"  and  this  is  the 
way  they  acquired  the  name :  One  day  a  squad  of  soldiers  sitting  by  their 
camp-fire  saw  a  copperhead  snake  crawling  towards  them,  ready  to  strike 
with  its  poisonous  fangs.  "  That  snake  is  just  like  a  Peace  Democrat- 
kill  him,"  shouted  one  of  the  soldiers.  "  Oh  no ;  swear  him  and  let  him 
go,"  said  another.  From  that  moment  a  Peace  Democrat,  in  the  eyes  of  a 
soldier,  was  a  "  Copperhead." 

The  soldiers  under  the  Stars  arid  Stripes  in  battle  felt  that  their  deadli 
est  foes — those  from  whom  they  had  the  most  to  fear,  who  could  do  them 
the  most  harm — were  not  the  brave  and  manly  Confederates  confronting 
them,  but  the  insidious  and  secretly  hostile  "  Copperheads,"  in  their  rear 
—poisoning  public  opinion,  paralyzing  loyal  effort,  denouncing  President 
Lincoln  as  a  usurper  and  tyrant,  demanding  "peace  at  any  price  "- 
who  said,  "  You  never  can  conquer  the  South."  This  their  description 
of  a  "  Copperhead  :" 


"There  was  glorious  news,  for  our  arms  were  victorious — 

'Twas  some  time  ago — and  'twas  somewhere  out  West. 
The  big  guns  were  booming,  the  boys  getting  glorious; 

But  one  man  was  gloomy,  and  glad  all  the  rest! 
Intending  emotions  delightful  to  damp, 

He  hummed  and  he  hawed,  and  he  sneered  and  he  sighed — 
A  snake  in  the  grass,  and  a  spy  in  the  camp. 

While  the  honest  were  laughing,  the  '  Copperhead '  cried. 


10  MARCHING  TO  VICTORY. 

"There  was  news  of  a  battle,  and  sad  souls  were  aching 

The  fate  of  their  brave  and  beloved  ones  to  learn; 
Pale  wives  stood  all  tearless,  their  tender  hearts  breaking 

For  the  gallant  good-man  who  would  never  return! 
We  had  lost  all  but  honor— so  ran  the  sad  story— 

Oh,  bitter  the  cup  that  the  Patriot  quaffed! 
He  had  tears  for  our  flag,  he  had  sighs  for  our  glory, 

He  had  groans  for  our  dead — but  the  '  Copperhead '  laughed." 


A  secret  society  was  organized  in  the  Western  Sfcates,  the  "  Mutual 
Protection  Society,"  which  was  soon  changed  to  "  Knights  of  the  Golden 
Circle."(5)  There  were  orders  and  degrees.  The  first  was  the  "  O.  A.  K." 
(Order  of  American  Knights) ;  the  second,  the  "  O.  S.  L."  (Order  of  Sons 
of  Liberty).  To  become  a  Knight  of  the  Golden  Circle  one  must  enter 
first  the  Vestibule,  beyond  which  were  the  Temple,  the  Inner  Temple,  the 
Innermost  Temple.  There  were  divisions,  brigades,  regiments,  and  com 
panies,  General  Commanders,  Grand  Seigniors,  Excellent  Knights,  and  a 
score  of  officers  with  high-sounding  names.  The  members  of  the  order 
met  in  secret  in  out-of-the-way  places.  When  a  new  member  was  to 
be  inducted,  the  Knight  Lecturer  inside  the  door  asked, "  Who  cometh?" 
The  Warden  of  the  Outer  Court  responded,  "A  man !  We  found  him  in 
the  dark  ways  of  the  sons  of  folly,  bound  in  chains  and  wellnigh  crushed 
to  death  beneath  the  iron  heel  of  oppression." 

Not  till  the  new  member — the  "neophyte,"  as  he  was  known  in  the 
order — had  taken  several  oaths  did  he  find  out  just  what  were  the  politi 
cal  principles  of  the  Knights  of  the  Golden  Circle,  or  what  they  intended 
to  accomplish.  These  their  principles  : 

"  The  Government  of  the  United  States  of  America  has  no  sovereign 
ty,  because  that  is  an  attribute  belonging  to  the  people  in  their  respective 
State  organizations,  and  with  which  they  have  not  endowed  that  govern 
ment  as  their  common  agent.  .  .  . 

"The  Federal  Government  can  exercise  only  delegated  power;  hence 
if  those  who  shall  have  been  chosen  to  administer  that  government  shall 
assume  to  exercise  power  not  delegated,  they  should  be  regarded  and  dealt 
with  as  usurpers. 

"  Whenever  the  officials  to  whom  the  people  have  intrusted  the  pow 
ers  of  government  shall  refuse  to  administer  it  in  strict  accordance  with 
its  Constitution ;  shall  assume  and  exercise  powers  not  delegated,  it  is  the 
inherent  right  and  imperative  duty  off  the  people  to  resist  such  officials, 
and,  if  need  be,  expel  them  by  force  of  arms"(G) 

The  Knights  of  the  Golden  Circle  were  strongest  in  Indiana.    Before 


THE   HOUR  OF  GLOOM. 


11 


the  war,  the  State  for  many  years  had  been  controlled  by  the  Democratic 
party.  The  officials  had  wasted  the  people's  money,  had  enriched  them 
selves,  had  organized  a  system  of  robbery  in  relation  to  the  public  lands. 
One  officer  fraudulently  issued,  in  1860,  more  than  two  million  five  hun 
dred  thousand  dollars'  worth  of  State  stock.  When  the  Republicans  came 
into  power  in  1861,  electing  Oliver  P.  Morton  governor,  the  men  who  had 
been  plundering  the  State  became  exceedingly  hostile  to  the  new  State 
government  and  to  the  United  States.  They  joined  the  Knights  of  the 
Golden  Circle,  and  directed  all  the  movements  of  the  order.  They  were 
in  constant  communication  with  the  Confederates.  They  induced  soldiers 
to  desert  from  the  army.  They  were  very  angry  when  President  Lincoln, 
after  the  battle  of  Antietam, 
gave  notice  of  the  issuing  of 
the  Proclamation  of  Emanci 
pation.  They  said  that  it  was 
an  Abolition  war.  President 
Lincoln,  knowing  that  a  great 
many  people  in  the  Northern 
States  were  doing  what  they 
could  to  help  the  Confeder 
ates,  issued  a  proclamation  to 
the  effect  that  persons  resist 
ing  or  seeking  to  overthrow 
the  authority  of  the  United 
States,  or  giving  aid  to  the 
Confederates,  should  have 
trial  before  military  courts ; 
and  that  the  writ  of  habeas 
corpus,  the  great  safeguard 
of  personal  liberty  in  time  of  peace,  should  be  suspended.  The  suspen 
sion  of  the  writ  is  authorized  by  the  Constitution  awhen  in  cases  of 
rebellion  or  invasion  the  public  safety  may  require  it."  The  President 
had  been  very  reluctant  to  proclaim  martial  law,  but  was  compelled  to 
do  so  by  those  who,  while  enjoying  all  the  liberties  of  the  Constitution, 
were  treasonably  at  work  to  overthrow  it.  He  regarded,  as  did  all  loyal 
men,  freedom  of  speech,  freedom  of  the  press,  an  independent  judiciary, 
trial  by  jury,  and  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus  as  priceless  treasures.  He 
loved  them,  and  would  lay  down  his  life,  if  need  be,  for  their  preservation. 
Only  when  the  life  of  the  Nation  was  at  stake  could  he  bring  himself 
to  exercise  the  authority  which  the  Constitution  had  given  him  for  the 


OLIVER  P.  MORTON. 


12  MARCHING  TO  VICTORY. 

suspension  of  the  right  of  trial  by  jury  and  the  suspension  of  the  writ. 
Those  who  sympathized  with  the  Confederates  claimed  the  right  to  de 
nounce  the  President's  action.  While  doing  what  they  could  in  oppo 
sition  to  his  exercise  of  Constitutional  authority  they  asserted  all  their 
rights  as  citizens  under  the  Constitution. 

On  the  last  day  of  December  the  Chief-justice  of  the  Supreme  Court 
of  Indiana,  who  was  opposed  to  the  war,  issued  a  writ  to  the  high  sheriff 
upon  Captain  Newman  of  the  Eleventh  United  States  Infantry,  ordering 
him  to  produce  before  the  court  a  soldier  who  had  deserted,  but  who  had 
been  recovered  by  that  officer. 

General  Henry  B.  Carrington,  of  the  United  States  Army,  who  under 
stood  his  duty  to  the  Government  of  the  United  States,  was  commander 
of  the  troops  in  Indianapolis.  "I  shall  maintain  the  authority  of  the 
United  States,"(7)  he  said  to  Chief-justice  Perkins. 

"  Perhaps  General  Carrington  himself  may  not  be  exempt  from  arrest," 
replied  the  lawyer  who  had  been  employed  by  the  Knights  of  the  Golden 
Circle  to  defy  the  authority  of  the  Government. 

"  If  the  President,"  said  the  Chief-justice,  "  issues  the  proposed  procla 
mation  to-morrow  it  will  bring  about  a  revolution,  and  end  the  United 
States  Government.  It  will  be  an  arbitrary  act  of  power  which  should 
not  be  tolerated  by  the  people.  There  is  no  way  of  redress  but  to  dis 
avow  the  authority  of  such  a  dictator.  The  writ  must  be  served  though 
the  streets  should  flow  with  blood." 

"  Can  I  not  serve  the  wrrit  without  trouble  ?"  was  the  question  of  the 
sheriff  to  General  Carrington. 

"  Possibly,  provided  you  have  a  posse  of  two  thousand  men,  well  drilled, 
accustomed  to  act  in  concert,  and  can  get  them  down  to  Captain  New 
man's  quarters  in  fifteen  minutes,"  was  the  reply.  He  made  a  signal  to  a 
staff -officer  standing  by  the  door,  who  repeated  it  to  an  officer  in  the 
street.  A  moment,  and  the  drum-beat  broke  the  silence,  and  the  soldiers 
of  the  United  States,  with  the  Stars  and  Stripes  above  them,  their  arms 
gleaming  in  the  setting  sun,  were  marching  through  the  streets,  maintain 
ing  the  authority  of  the  President. 

A  few  days  later  the  legislature  of  Indiana,  a  majority  of  whom  were 
Peace  Democrats,  endeavored  to  embarrass  the  United  States  Government 
by  transferring  the  control  of  the  militia  and  all  the  arms — the  muskets, 
cannon,  and  ammunition  —  which  had  been  obtained  from  the  United 
States,  to  a  commission  consisting  of  three  State  officers  —  the  Auditor, 
Secretary,  and  Treasurer — all  Peace  Democrats — who  were  also  to  issue 
all  commissions,  and  have  the  control  of  the  troops  —  an  open  viola- 


THE   HOUR   OF  GLOOM.  13 

tion  of  the  Constitution,  taking  the  government  out  of  the  hands  of  Gov 
ernor  Morton,  and  giving  it  to  the  Knights  of  the  Golden  Circle.  The 
State  had  in  its  possession  eighteen  thousand  muskets.  One  branch  of 
the  legislature  voted  for  the  bill,  whereupon  Governor  Morton,  at  mid 
night,  wrote  this  to  General  Carrington  :  "All  arms  and  equipments  be 
longing  to  the  United  States  in  the  arsenal  in  this  city  are  hereby  turned 
over  to  your  possession  and  control."  When  morning  came,  the  men 
who  were  gleefully  looking  forward  to  the  moment  when  they  would  see 


GENERAL   H.  B.   CARRINGTON. 

the  arms  in  the  hands  of  the  Knights  of  the  Golden  Circle  were  con 
founded  when  they  learned  that  the  State  had  no  arms  in  its  possession, 
and  that  the  arsenal  was  guarded  by  a  strong  force  of  United  States 
troops.  The  revolutionary  bill  did  not  become  a  law,  for  whenever  the 
Peace  Democrats  attempted  to  pass  it,  the  members  sustaining  the  Gov 
ernment  went  out  of  the  hall,  leaving  the  House  without  a  quorum  foi 
the  lawful  transaction  of  business. 

Very  noble  and  patriotic  were  the  closing  words  of  President  Lincoln's 


14  MARCHING  TO  VICTORY. 

message  to  Congress  when  it  assembled  on  the  first  Monday  in  December 
— words  to  be  read  through  all  time. 

"  The  dogmas  of  the  quiet  past  are  inadequate  to  the  stormy  present. 
The  occasion  is  piled  high  with  difficulty,  and  we  must  rise  to  the  occa 
sion.  As  our  case  is  new,  so  we  must  think  anew  and  act  anew.  We 
must  disin thrall  ourselves,  and  then  wre  shall  save  our  country. 

"  Fellow-citizens,  we  cannot  escape  history.  We  of  this  Congress  and 
this  administration  will  be  remembered  in  spite  of  ourselves.  No  per 
sonal  significance  or  insignificance  can  spare  one  or  another  of  us.  The 
fiery  trial  through  which  we  pass  will  light  us  down  in  honor  or  dishonor 
to  the  latest  generation.  We  say  we  are  for  the  Union.  The  world  will 
not  forget  that  we  know  how  to  save  it.  We — even  we  here — hold  the 
power  and  bear  the  responsibility.  In  giving  freedom  to  the  slave  we 
assure  freedom  to  the/m?,  honorable  alike  in  what  we  give  and  what  we 
preserve.  We  shall  nobly  save  or  meanly  lose  the  last  best  hope  of 
earth.  Other  means  may  succeed ;  this  could  not  fail.  The  way  is  plain, 
peaceful,  generous,  just — a  way  which,  if  followed,  the  world  will  forever 
applaud,  and  God  must  forever  bless." 

One  week  after  the  delivery  of  this  message  came  the  battle  of  Freder- 

t/  O 

icksburg  ("Drum-beat  of  the  Nation,"  chap,  xvi.),  with  its  terrible  slaugh 
ter  and  defeat  of  the  Union  army.  The  idea  was  abroad  that  there  had 
been  intermeddling  with  General  Burnside's  plans  by  members  of  the 
Cabinet.  A  caucus  was  held  by  some  of  the  Senators,  who  adopted 
a  resolution  of  want  of  confidence  in  Mr.  Seward,  Secretary  of  State, 
and  asked  the  President  to  remove  him  ;  which  was  finally  amended, 
not  mentioning  Mr.  Seward's  name,  but  asking  for  "  a  reconstruction  of 
the  Cabinet,"  whereupon  Mr.  Seward,  Secretary  of  State,  and  Mr.  Chase, 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  placed  their  resignations  in  the  hands  of  Presi 
dent  Lincoln,  who  informed  them  that  the  public  interest  would  not  per 
mit  him  to  accept  their  resignations.  It  was  an  unwarranted  attempt  on 
the  part  of  the  Senators  to  dictate  to  the  President  their  own  line  of 
policy;  but  as  a  brave-hearted  sailor  amid  the  darkness,  the  storm,  and 
tempest,  with  a  firm  hand  upon  the  helm,  guides  the  ship,  so  this  clear 
sighted,  great-hearted  man  of  the  people,  with  faith  in  them,  in  himself, 
and  in  God,  guided  the  nation  in  this  dark  hour  of  its  history. 

With  dissensions  in  the  party  which  had  elected  President  Lincoln, 
with  the  people  of  six  States  turning  against  him,  his  own  State  of  Illinois 
among  them,  with  Peace  Democrats  demanding  "  peace  at  any  price,"  en 
listments  at  an  end,  patriotic  ardor  gone,  the  ranks  of  the  army  thinned  by 
battle  and  disease,  more  defeats  than  victories,  a  Congress  opposed  to  the 


THE   HOUR  OF   GLOOM.  15 

prosecution  of  the  war  elected,  the  loss  of  life  at  Fredericksburg  appalling 
the  country,  the  year  went  out  in  gloom  to  hearts  that  loved  the  old  flag. 

In  the  peals  of  the  church-bells  tolling  out  the  old  year  and  ringing 
in  the  new  there  was  confident  expectation  of  final  triumph  to  Jeffer 
son  Davis  in  Richmond,  gloom  and  foreboding  in  the  Northern  States  to 
those  sustaining  Abraham  Lincoln,  requiems  for  the  fallen  at  Shiloh,  Ma- 
nassas,  Antietam,  Fredericksburg,  and  for  the  dying  and  the  dead  in  the 
still  undecided  battle  of  Stone  River ;  but  to  four  million  of  slaves  never 
such  celestial  music — Freedom  and  Citizenship — and  to  the  poor  and  lowly 
of  every  land  a  brighter  future,  a  nobler  life. 

"Ring  out  a  slowly  dying  cause, 

And  ancient  forms  of  party  strife; 
Ring  in  the  nobler  modes  of  life 
With  sweeter  manners,  freer  laws. 

"Ring  in  the  valiant  man  and  free, 
The  larger  heart,  the  kindlier  hand; 
Ring  out  the  darkness  of  the  land, 
Ring  in  the  Christ  that  is  to  be." 


NOTES  TO  CHAPTER  I. 

O  Foote,  "War  of  the  Rebellion,"  p.  369. 

(2)  Draper,  "Civil  War  in  America,"  vol.  ii.,  p.  170 

(3)  Foote,  "  War  of  the  Rebellion,"  p.  366. 

(4)  Idem,  p.  381. 

(5)  "Treason  Trials  at  Indianapolis." 

(6)  "Ritual  of  Knights  of  Golden  Circle." 
(T)  H.  B.  Carrington  to  author. 


16 


MARCHING  TO  VICTORY. 


CHAPTER  II. 

OTHER    COUNTRIES. 

will  aid  us,"  were  the  words  of  Jefferson  Davis  at  Mont 
gomery,  Alabama,  the  evening  after  his  inauguration  as  Provisional 
President  of  the  Confederacy,  in  February,  1862.     Three  days  after  the 


'Xi 


CHARLES  FRANCIS  ADAMS. 


firing  on  Fort  Sumter,  William  L.  Yancy,  P.  S.  Eost,  and  Dudley  A.  Mann, 
Commissioners  of  the  Confederate  Government  to  England  and  France, 
started  upon  their  missions.  They  arrived  in  London  April  29th,  and 


OTHER  COUNTRIES. 


LORD   JOHN   RUSSELL. 


had  an  interview  with  Lord  John  Russell,  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs, 
two  days  later.  They  informed  him  that  they  represented  States  which 
had  thrown  off  their  connection  with  the  United  States,  and  had  put  in 
operation  a  government  of  their  own  without  shedding  a  drop  of  blood ; 
that  it  was  to  rid  themselves  of  the  oppressive  tariff  which  the  North  had 
imposed  upon  the  country ;  that  the  object  of  the  war  on  the  part  of 
Abraham  Lincoln  and  those  who  supported  him  was  not  to  abolish  slav 
ery,  but  to  control  slave  labor  by  Congressional  action. Q  They  set  forth, 
in  a  long  and  elaborate  document,  the  position  of  the  Southern  States 
and  what  they  had  to  offer  England — cotton. 

Lord  John  Russell  said  in  reply  that  he  was  pleased  to  meet  them  as 
gentlemen,  but  "  in  the  present  state  of  affairs  he  must  decline  to  enter 
into  any  official  communication  with  them."(2) 

President  Lincoln  had  appointed  Charles  Francis  Adams  Minister  to 
Great  Britain.  Lord  John  Russell  knew  that  he  was  on  his  way  across 
the  ocean,  but  the  day  preceding  his  arrival  announced  to  the  world  that 
2 


18  MARCHING  TO   VICTORY. 

England  recognized  the  Confederacy  as  a  belligerent  power — a  govern 
ment  which,  under  the  usages  of  nations,  had  the  right  to  make  war. 
This  unseemly  haste  on  the  part  of  Great  Britain  was  regarded  by  the 
people  of  the  Northern  States  as  an  intentional  expression  of  sympathy 
and  good-will  to  the  seceded  States,  and  of  unfriendliness  to  the  United 
States  Government — as  if  it  would  be  a  pleasure  to  England  to  see  the 
Republic  of  the  Western  World  broken  up.  This  recognition  of  the  Con 
federacy  as  a  war-making  power  indicated  that  at  some  future  time  Eng 
land  might  recognize  the  Confederacy  as  a  Nation.  It  gave  to  the  gov 
ernment  of  Jefferson  Davis  the  same  hospitality  given  to  that  of  Abraham 
Lincoln.  It  was  regarded  by  the  people  of  the  United  States  as  an  inten 
tional  affront.  England  and  France  both  announced  that  during  the  war 
they  would  maintain  a  strict  neutrality,  taking  no  part  with  either  side. 
The  London  newspapers  said  that  President  Lincoln,  when  he  established 
the  blockade,  immediately  after  the  firing  on  Fort  Sumter,  recognized 
the  Confederacy  as  a  belligerent  power ;  but  the  President  had  proposed 
to  close  the  p9rts  instead  of  declaring  a  blockade,  whereupon  Lord  Lyons 
informed  him  that  England  would  not  submit  to  such  a  measure,  and 
there  was,  therefore,  110  other  course  for  the  President  to  pursue. 

In  1856  commissioners  from  nearly  all  the  European  nations  had 
come  to  an  agreement  in  Paris,  and  signed  a  declaration  as  to  the  course 
they  would  pursue  in  future  wars.  Up  to  that  time,  whenever  a  war 
broke  out,  private  individuals  were  allowed  to  fit  out  armed  vessels  to 
destroy  the  commerce  of  the  nation  with  whom  their  own  nation  was  at 
war ;  but  they  agreed  that  in  future  wars  there  should  be  no  privateering., 
They  also  agreed  that  the  flag  of  a  nation  which  was  not  at  war  should 
protect  all  goods  not  contraband  of  war,  and  that  such  goods  were  not  to 
be  liable  to  capture  even  when  under  the  enemy's  flag ;  also  that  a  block 
ade,  to  be  respected,  must  be  maintained  by  a  force  sufficient  to  prevent 
any  passage  of  vessels  to  or  from  a  blockaded  port.  This  declaration  was 
signed  by  the  representatives  of  France,  England,  Austria,  Prussia,  and 
Sardinia,  all  of  whom  agreed  that  it  should  not  be  binding  on  any  gov 
ernment  unless  accepted  by  such  government.  It  was  not  signed  by  the 
United  States,  nor  by  Mexico. 

Lord  John  Russell,  acting  in  concert  with  France,  instructed  Lord 
Lyons  to  endeavor  to  obtain  the  agreement  of  the  United  States  and  of 
the  Confederate  Government  to  the  declaration.  He  was  to  communicate 
with  Jefferson  Davis  through  the  consul  at  Charleston  or  New  Orleans, 
who  had  received  their  exequaturs,  or  official  recognitions,  from  the  LTnited 
States.  Such  a  procedure  was  regarded  by  the  people  of  the  United 


OTHER  COUNTRIES.  19 

States  as  unwarranted  by  international  courtesy — an  unprecedented  action 
prejudicial  to  the  United  States. 

The  Confederate  Government  rejected  the  article  which  related  to  the 
fitting  out  of  privateers,  but  accepted  the  others.  The  great  fleet  of  ships 
owned  by  citizens  of  the  United  States  might  be  captured  or  destroyed 
by  privateers,  and  great  damage  done  to  the  merchants  and  ship-owners 
of  the  Northern  States ;  whereas  the  merchants  of  Charleston,  Wilming 
ton,  and  Mobile  had  no  ships,  and  would  therefore  lose  nothing. 


HON.  WILLIAM    H.   SEWARD. 


Through  the  years  preceding  the  war,  in  the  ship-yards  of  Maine  and 
Massachusetts  there  had  been  a  clattering  of  axes  and  hammers — the  con 
structing  of  vessels  which  had  outsailed  the  swiftest  ships  of  Great  Britain 
in  ocean  races  from  China  to  Liverpool.  Americans  were  doing  a  large 
amount  of  the  carrying  trade  of  the  world,  which  aroused  the  jealousy 
and  envy  of  the  English  ship-owners  and  merchants,  who  were  pleased 
to  learn  that  the  Confederate  Congress  had  accepted  the  articles  relating 
to  goods  not  contraband  of  war,  and  they  did  not  complain  because  the 
declaration  in  regard  to  privateering  was  not  accepted,  for  their  goods 
would  not  be  molested ;  whereas,  on  the  other  hand,  goods  manufactured 


20  MARCHING  TO  VICTORY. 

in  the  United  States  would  be  liable  to  capture,  while  the  merchant-ves 
sels  flying  the  Stars  and  Stripes  would  be  swept  from  the  ocean,  which 
would  put  money  into  their  purses. 

Mr.  Seward,  Secretary  of  State,  offered  to  accept  all  the  articles ;  but 
as  the  Confederate  Government  had  not  consented  to  abandon  privateer 
ing,  both  England  and  France  rejected  the  offer.  Such  was  the  attitude 
assumed  by  those  countries  at  the  beginning  of  the  war.  Mr.  Seward 
expressed  the  sentiments  of  the  people  of  the  United  States  when  he 
wrote  these  words  : 

"  It  is  manifest  in  the  tones  of  the  speakers  as  well  as  in  popular  dis 
cussion  that  neither  the  responsible  ministers,  nor  the  House  of  Commons, 
nor  the  active  portion  of  the  people  of  Great  Britain  sympathize  with  this 
Government,  or  hope,  or  even  wish  for  its  success  in  suppressing  the  in 
surrection  ;  and  that,  on  the  contrary,  the  wrhole  British  nation,  speaking 
practically,  desire  and  expect  the  dismemberment  of  the  Republic." 

The  action  of  England  and  France  was  so  expressive  of  sympathy  that 
Jefferson  Davis  appointed  John  M.  Mason,  of  Virginia,  and  John  Slidell, 
of  Louisiana,  as  ministers  to  those  countries.  They  went  to  Wilmington, 
North  Carolina,(3)  but  there  were  so  many  United  States  war-ships  keeping 
watch  at  that  port  for  vessels  running  the  blockade  they  did  not  dare  to  sail. 
thought  of  making  a  long  and  tiresome  journey  to  Matamoras  in  Mexico, 
but  went  to  Charleston  instead,  where  they  found  the  steamship  Gordon* 
and  paid  the  captain  ten  thousand  dollars  in  gold  to  take  them  from  that 
port  to  Havana — a  very  large  price  for  so  short  a  voyage.  At  Havana 
they  took  passage  on  the  steamer  Trent,  carrying  the  British  mail,  for 
St.  Thomas,  intending  to  take  another  vessel  at  that  port  for  England. 
Commodore  Charles  H.  Wilkes,  of  the  United  States  war-ship  San  Jacinto, 
was  waiting  for  the  Trent  in  the  Bahama  Channel.  He  stopped  that  ves 
sel,  seized  Messrs.  Mason  and  Slidell,  with  their  secretaries.  The  question 
arose  in  his  mind  whether  he  had  the  right  to  do  so.  There  was  no 
doubt  that  he  had  a  right  to  capture  written  despatches. 

"I  considered  them,"  said  Commodore  Wilkes,  "as  the  embodiment  of 
despatches.  .  .  .(4)  The  cargo  was  also  liable,  as  all  the  shippers  were  know 
ing  to  the  embarkation  of  these  live  despatches,  and  their  traitorous  mo 
tives  and  actions  to  the  Union  of  the  United  States."  He  did  not,  how 
ever,  seize  the  vessel,  as  under  the  law  of  nations  he  had  a  right  to  do,  if 
his  theory  of  action  was  right  and  proper,  because  he  could  not  spare  men 
from  the  San  Jacinto  to  man  her,  and  because  there  were  many  passen 
gers  on  board  who  would  have  been  greatly  disturbed  by  such  action. 

The  San  Jacinto  sailed  into  Boston  harbor,  and  the  captured  Confed- 


OTHER    COUNTRIES.  21 

erates  were  placed  for  safe-keeping  in  Fort  Warren,  on  an  island,  the 
place  where  the  song  of  "  John  Brown  "  was  first  sung,  and  where,  it  is 
quite  likely,  Mason  and  Slidell  heard  it  as  they  sat  in  the  evening  in  the 
comfortable  quarters  provided  for  them.  During  the  summer  the  Boston 
Light  Infantry  had  been  quartered  there.  Some  of  the  soldiers  were 
accustomed  to  hold  prayer  -  meetings  in  the  evening  when  off  duty.  This 
is  one  of  their  songs : 


"Say,  brothers,  will  you  meet  us, 

Say,  brothers,  will  you  meet  us, 

Say,  brothers,  will  you  meet  us 

On  Canaan's  happy  shore  2" 

The  melody  had  been  sung  in  many  camp-meetings  long  before  the  war 
began. (5)  One  of  the  soldiers  bore  the  name  of  John  Brown.  He  was 
from  Scotland,  always  good-natured.  His  messmates  made  fun  of  him 
for  being  a  little  behindhand  at  times.  They  asked,  "Where's  John 
Brown?"  Then  came  the  answer:  "Oh,  he's  dead.  They  hung  him 
down  in  Old  Virginia."  There  was  a  laugh,  and  then  one  said,  "His  body 
is  mouldering  in  the  grave."  All  of  which  John  Brown  from  Scotland 
took  in  good  part.  The  jolly  members  of  the  company  improvised  other 
words.  One  member — James  E.  Greenleaf — played  the  organ  in  church 
on  Sunday  when  at  home  in  Charlestown.  His  friend,  C.  S.  Hall,  came  to 
see  him,  and  together  they  arranged  some  verses  which  were  printed  by 
Mr.  Hall,  the  music  arranged  by  Mr.  Marsh.  In  a  few  days  all  the  boys 
on  the  street,  working-men,  teamsters,  clerks  were  singing  it.  Regiments 
departing  for  Washington  took  it  up,  and  a  few  weeks  later  the  entire 
army  was  singing  the  apotheosis  of  the  man  who  had  been  hung  in  Vir 
ginia,  and  whom  the  world  had  regarded  as  either  a  lunatic  or  a  fanatic, 
but  who  precipitated  the  mighty  conflict. 

There  was  great  rejoicing  in  Boston  when  the  San  Jacinto  sailed  into 
the  harbor.  A  meeting  was  held  in  Faneuil  Hall,  and  resolutions  of  thanks 
to  Commodore  Wilkes  adopted.  Congress  approved  his  action.  The  Sec 
retary  of  the  Navy  thanked  him.  Far  different  the  state  of  affairs  in  Eng 
land  when  it  was  learned,  on  November  27th,  that  a  United  States  war- 


MARCHING  TO  VICTORY, 


JOHN   M.  MASON. 

ship  had  stopped  a  British  merchant  steamer  and  seized  the  Confederate 
ministers.  It  was  looked  upon  as  an  affront  to  Great  Britain  so  flagrant 
that  if  Mason  and  Slidell  were  not  given  up  on  demand  and  a  fitting  apol 
ogy  tendered,  it  was  the  duty  of  England  to  instantly  declare  war  against 
the  United  States.  There  was  bustle  and  preparation  at  Portsmouth,  where 
the  great  fleet  of  war-vessels  were  lying,  shipments  of  powder,  shot,  and 
shell,  mustering  of  crews,  the  returning,  in  hot  haste,  of  all  absent  officers ; 
eight  thousand  soldiers  were  ordered  to  Canada  to  be  ready  to  strike  a  quick 
blow  to  avenge  the  insult.  The  heaviest-armed  ships  of  the  navy  sailed, 
or  prepared  to  sail,  for  Halifax  to  be  ready  to  send  the  whole  of  the  insig 
nificant  vessels  of  the  United  States  Navy,  which  had  been  fitted  up  to 
blockade  the  Southern  ports,  to  the  bottom  of  the  sea ;  to  bombard  Bos- 


OTHER   COUNTRIES.  23 

ton,  New  York,  and  Philadelphia ;  capture  Fortress  Monroe,  and  open  all 
the  ports  of  the  Confederacy  once  more  to  commerce ;  sail  up  the  Poto 
mac  and  send  shot  and  shell  through  the  White  House ;  batter  down  the 
unfinished  marble  walls  of  the  Capitol.  We  are  to  remember  that  in  1861 
the  navy  of  England  was  exceedingly  powerful,  while  that  of  the  United 
States  was  very  weak,  with  scarcely  half  a  dozen  first-class  frigates. 

Lord  Palmerston,  Lord  John  Russell,  the  members  of  Parliament,  the 
newspapers,  merchants,  and  manufacturers  forgot  that  in  years  gone  by 


JOHN   SUDELL. 


hundreds  of  American  vessels  had  been  stopped  on  the  ocean  by  the 
frigates  of  England,  and  more  than  six  thousand  American  citizens  and 
nearly  as  many  more  British  citizens  had  been  seized  and  impressed  into 


24  MARCHING  TO  VICTORY. 

the  navy  of  England ;  that  some  of  them  had  been  unmercifully  flogged 
and  maltreated  for  not  obeying  every  order  or  satisfying  every  whim  of 
the  officers  on  the  quarter-deck.  They  forgot  that  Lord  Castlereagh  had 
admitted  there  had  been  thirty-five  hundred  violent  and  unjust  seizures  of 
American  citizens ;  that  the  United  States  declared  war  against  England 
in  1812  to  vindicate  the  rights  of  American  sailors ;  that  though  England 
had  discontinued  the  practice,  she  had  persistently  refused  to  make  a 
renunciation  of  the  right  to  stop  American  vessels  or  take  sailors  from 
them.  Mr.  Mason  and  Mr.  Slidell  were  not  citizens  of  Great  Britain,  but, 
up  to  the  secession  of  the  Southern  States,  they  had  been  citizens  of  the 
United  States.  Lord  John  Russell  could  put  in  no  claim  that  England 
was  bound,  on  the  score  of  the  nationality  of  Messrs.  Mason  and  Slidell,  to 
demand  their  release.  The  stopping  of  the  Trent  and  their  seizure  con 
stituted  the  insult. 

Queen  Victoria  and  Prince  Albert  were  at  Windsor  Castle,  on  the 
banks  of  the  Thames,  out  from  London,  where  from  the  round  tower  one 
may  look  down  upon  the  green  meadows  of  Runnymede,  where  King  John 
was  compelled  to  sign  the  Magna  Charta.  A  great  herd  of  deer  roam 
the  pastures  and  moorlands,  and  pheasants  build  their  nests  in  the  giant 
oaks  of  the  forest  where  William  Rufus  once  hunted.  To  this  spot,  with 
its  historic  memories,  came  a  messenger  on  Saturday  evening,  the  last  day 
of  November,  with  the  document  which  Lord  John  Russell  had  written 
to  be  sent  across  the  Atlantic  to  Lord  Lyons,  in  Washington. 

The  Queen  and  Prince  Albert  did  not  relish  the  tone  of  it.  They  had 
a  liking  for  the  people  of  the  Northern  States,  and  were  grateful  for  the 
cordial  and  hearty  reception  which  had  been  given  everywhere  in  the 
North  to  the  Prince  of  Wales  a  few  months  before ;  and  they  also  remem 
bered  that  he  was  treated  with  discourtesy  at  Richmond  so  marked  that 
he  would  go  no  farther  south.  Prince  Albert,  who  was  ever  a  good  friend 
to  the  United  States,(6)  saw  that  Lord  John  Russell  had  so  worded  it  that 
a  proud-spirited  people  would  be  likely  to  resent  the  imperious  demand. 
He  was  not  well,  and  passed  a  restless  night.  He  was  thinking  of  the 
momentous  results  that  might  corne  from  the  letter  which  was  to  be  sent 
across  the  Atlantic  —  possibly  a  terrible  war  between  the  United  States 
and  Great  Britain.  He  could  eat  no  breakfast.  His  hand  was  weak  and 
trembling  when  he  took  up  his  pen.  He  did  not  know  that  he  was  about 
to  do  his  last  writing,  that  the  weakness  which  had  come  over  him  was 
the  beginning  of  the  end  of  life.  He  wrote  what  he  thought  ought  to  be 
sent  to  the  United  States — a  despatch  conciliatory  rather  than  imperious 
— that  the  Queen  hoped  Commodore  Wilkes  had  acted  on  his  own  author- 


OTHER   COUNTRIES. 


" 


PRINCE    ALBERT. 


ity  and  not  under  orders  ;  that  her  Majesty  trusted  the  United  States  would 
spontaneously  offer  such  redress  as  would  satisfy  the  country.  Lord  Palm- 
erston  and  Lord  John  Russell  accepted  what  the  Prince  had  written. 

Far  different  in  all  probability  would  have  been  the  outcome  of  affairs 
had  the  despatch  as  first  written  by  Lord  John  Russell  been  approved 
by  Prince  Albert  and  the  Queen.  Prince  Albert  did  not  know,  nor  did 
Lord  Palmerston  or  any  member  of  the  English  ministry,  what  the  Rus 
sian  ambassador  in  London  was  writing  to  Count  Gortschakoff,  the  Prime- 
minister  of  Russia :  that  England  was  preparing  for  war  with  the  United 
States.  When  the  despatch  was  received  at  St.  Petersburg  there  was 
activity  in  the  Russian  navy,  and  two  fleets  sailed  across  the  Atlantic  with 
sealed  orders,  not  to  be  broken  except  in  certain  events.  Month  after 
month  a  Russian  fleet  lay  in  the  harbor  of  New  York,  and  another  in  the 
harbor  of  San  Francisco.  It  probably  never  will  be  known  just  what  the 


26  MARCHING  TO   VICTORY. 

orders  contained,  or  what  were  the  intentions  of  the  Emperor  of  Russia; 
but  there  is  much  reason  to  believe  that  Russia  would  have  been  \he 
allyQ  of  the  United  States  and  against  England  and  France  in  case  of 
war  with  those  countries. 

Very  fortunate  for  the  whole  human  race  that  the  man  who,  when 
young,  split  rails  and  built  a  fence  to  obtain  a  pair  of  jean  trousers,  who 
was  so  upright  in  all  things  that  everybody  called  him  "  honest,"  was  now, 
under  a  kind  Providence,  guiding  the  affairs  of  the  United  States  in  its 
struggle  for  national  existence,  and  who  saw  that  the  right  thing  to  do 
was  to  comply  with  the  demand  of  England,  for  by  so  doing  that  coun 
try  would  be  forever  debarred  from  again  stopping  a  vessel  upon  the  sea 
and  seizing  a  sailor  ;  by  complying  with  the  demand,  war,  with  all  its  ter 
rible  consequences,  would  not  only  be  averted,  but  the  right,  for  which  the 
United  States  had  fought  in  1812,  would  become  a  great  principle  of  inter 
national  law. 

Mr.  Mason  and  Mr.  Slidell  and  their  secretaries  were  given  up,  and 
were  taken  to  England  on  the  British  war-ship  Rinaldo.  It  was  very 
mortifying  to  the  United  States  to  give  them  up  after  Congress  had 
thanked  Commodore  Wilkes  ;  but  Mr.  Seward  surrendered  them  gracefully 
and  acceptably  to  England,  on  the  ground  that  Commodore  Wilkes  did 
jiot  do  as  he  ought  to  have  done — seize  the  Trent,  and  have  his  action 
adjusted  in  a  prize  court,  in  accordance  with  international  law,  which 
was  not  the  highest  ground  for  him  to  take ;  but  as  the  demand  of  Eng 
land  had  been  complied  with,  and  the  act  of  Commodore  Wilkes  dis 
avowed,  that  country  could  have  no  further  reason  for  complaint.  But 
the  affair  made  nearly  all  the  members  of  Parliament,  all  but  one  or  two 
of  the  Cabinet  ministers,  a  great  majority  of  the  merchants,  manufact 
urers,  ship-owners,  and  nearly  all  the  newspapers  active  partisans  of  the 
Confederate  States* 

The  last  week  in  January,  1862,  the  Confederate  ministers  arrived  in 
London.  Lord  John  Russell  received  Mr.  Mason  very  courteously  as  a  pri 
vate  gentleman, (8)  but  he  was  not  quite  ready  to  recognize  him  as  an  offi 
cial  representative  of  the  Confederate  Government.  At  that  date  there 
was  not  much  distress  in  Lancashire  for  want  of  cotton,  for  there  had  been 
a  supply  sufficient  to  keep  a  large  portion  of  the  spindles  whirling.  Mr. 
Mason  was  much  gratified  to  find  that  the  sympathies  of  nearly  all  with 
whom  he  came  in  contact  were  for  the  success  of  the  Confederacy. 

This  from  a  letter  to  Mr.  Benjamin,  Confederate  Secretary  of  State : 

"  I  am  in  full  and  frequent  communication  with  many  able  and  in 
fluential  members  of  the  House  of  Commons,  who  confer  with  me  with 


OTHER   COUNTRIES. 


EMPEKOK   NAPOLEON   III. 


great  freedom  and  candor,  and  who  are  prepared  to  move  the  question  (of 
recognition)  whenever  it  may  be  found  expedient The  educated  and  en 
lightened  classes  are  in  full  sympathy  with  us,  and  are  becoming  impatient 
at  the  supineness  of  the  Government. "(') 

Mr.  Mason  did  not  visit  the  humble  homes  of  the  men  and  women  of 
Lancashire  to  find  out  what  they  thought  of  a  government  which  was  en 
deavoring  to  establish  itself  on  unrequited  labor. 

Mr.  Slidell  reached  Paris  in  February,  and  wrote  to  Mr.  Benjamin 
that  he  was  satisfied  France  was  prepared  to  declare  the  blockade  ineffi 
cient  and  not  binding  on  the  neutral  powers.  lie  had  an  interview  with 
the  Emperor  Louis  Napoleon  at  Vichy.  "  His  sympathies,"  wrote  Mr.  Sli 
dell,  "  had  always  been  with  the  South,  whose  people  were  struggling  for 


28  MARCHING  TO   VICTORY. 

the  principle  of  self-government.  He  considered  the  re-establishment  of 
the  Union  impossible,  and  final  separation  a  mere  question  of  time.  The 
difficulty  was  to  find  a  way  to  give  effect  to  his  sympathies.  He  desired 
to  preserve  the  most  friendly  relations  with  England,  and  in  so  grave  a 
matter  he  was  not  willing  to  act  without  her  co-operation.  He  had  several 
times  intimated  his  wish  for  action,  but  England  wished  him  to  draw  the 
chestnuts  from  the  fire  for  her  own  comfort.  . .  .  He  had  committed  a  great 
error,  which  he  now  regretted.  France  should  never  have  respected  the 
blockade.  The  European  powers  should  never  have  respected  it  last 
summer,  when  our  ports  were  in  our  possession  and  our  armies  menacing 
Washington."(10) 

The  Emperor  of  France  was  watching  every  movement  of  the  great 
struggle.  The  dream  of  empire  had  come  to  him,  and  he  was  at  that  mo 
ment  turning  over  in  his  mind  a  scheme  and  course  of  action  which  he 
thought  would  send  his  name  down  the  ages ;  it  was  to  overthrow  the 
Government  of  Mexico,  establish  an  empire,  and  break  up  the  republican 
form  of  government  in  America,  which  by  its  influence  was  threatening 
the  stability  of  the  monarchies  of  Europe. 

How  the  scheme  came  about,  how  it  began,  the  elevation  of  Maximil 
ian  as  Emperor  of  Mexico,  his  tragic  end,  the  relations  of  Louis  Napoleon 
to  the  Confederacy,  the  overturning  of  all  his  plans  by  the  men  beneath 
the  Stars  and  Stripes,  will  ever  be  a  dramatic  episode  in  the  history  of  our 
country. 

The  establishment  of  the  United  States  as  a  free  and  independent  na 
tion,  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution  in  1787,  set  the  whole  world  think 
ing  upon  the  problem  of  government.  As  the  years  went  by,  Mexico  and 
all  the  South  American  countries  except  Brazil  became  republics.  Dur 
ing  the  administration  of  President  Monroe  the  United  States  announced 
to  the  world  that  the  countries  in  the  Western  Hemisphere  must  be  al 
lowed  to  choose  their  own  form  of  government  without  interference  from 
European  nations.  Mexico  became  a  republic.  Just  before  the  seces 
sion  of  the  Southern  States  there  was  no  end  of  trouble  in  that  country, 
revolution  succeeding  revolution,  and  civil  war.  There  were  two  politi 
cal  parties,  the  "  Church,"  or  "  Clerical,"  party,  with  the  bishops,  padres, 
priests,  and  many  of  the  wealthy  Mexicans  at  its  head,  and  the  "  Liberal," 
or  "  People's,"  party.  The  Clerical  party  had  vast  wealth,  while  the  Lib 
erals  were  poor.  From  the  time  of  Cortez  those  who  owned  large  pos 
sessions  at  death  had  bequeathed  their  property  to  the  Church,  which  held 
under  mortmain — the  dead  hand — lands  which  were  said  to  be  worth  three 
hundred  million  dollars,  and  which  yielded  twenty  million  dollars  per  an- 


OTHER  COUNTRIES.  29 

nnm,  or  double  the  revenues  of  the  nation.  The  Church  owned  two  thou 
sand  houses  which  were  the  homes  of  the  ecclesiastics,  who  paid  no  taxes ; 
the  whole  property  of  the  Church  being  exempt  from  taxation,  made  the 
burdens  upon  the  people  very  heavy. 

In  1857  the  Clericals  annulled  the  Constitution,  electing  General 
Zuloaga  President,  while  the  Liberals  elected  Benito  Juarez  —  a  man  of 
great  force  of  character,  and  who  had  the  good  of  his  country  ever  in 
view.  Zuloaga  was  soon  succeeded  by  Miramon,  of  the  Clerical  party, 
who  was  wrholly  destitute  of  moral  principle,  who  shot  in  cold  blood  men 
politically  opposed  to  him,  and  appropriated  their  property.  He  had  no 
regard  for  law,  but  was  a  law  to  himself.  In  1860  he  seized  six  hun 
dred  and  sixty  thousand  dollars,  which  had  been  set  aside  to  pay  inter 
est  on  bonds  held  in  England.  He  issued  bonds  to  the  amount  of  many 
million  dollars  to  some  French  bankers,  receiving  for  them  about  seven 
hundred  thousand  dollars.(n)  Paper  was  cheap,  and  the  printing  cost  but 
a  trifle.  But  he  was  defeated  in  battle,  and  obliged  to  flee  the  country. 
The  Liberals,  having  obtained  control  of  the  Government,  passed  a  law 
recovering  to  the  State  a  very  large  portion  of  the  lands  held  by  the 
Church.  Some  of  the  bishops  who  had  been  very  obnoxious  were  ordered 
to  leave  the  country,  also  the  Papal  nuncio,  together  with  General  Al 
monte,  who  had  commanded  the  Clerical  troops.  Up  to  this  time,  all 
marriages  must  be  authorized  by  the  priests,  but  a  law  was  passed  making 
marriage  by  civil  law  legal.  The  reform  brought  about  in  1859-60  was 
the  beginning  of  a  new  national  life  in  Mexico.  The  people  were  poor; 
the  Clerical  party  had  plundered  them,  and  there  was  no  money  in  the 
treasury  to  carry  on  the  Government  nor  to  pay  the  interest  on  bonds. 
On  July  17, 1861,  the  day  on  which  the  army  of  the  United  States  began 
its  march  to  fight  the  first  battle  at  Bull  Kun,  the  Mexican  Congress 
passed  a  lawr  suspending  the  payment  of  interest  on  the  bonds  for  two 
years,  whereupon  the  ministers  of  England,  France,  and  Spain  informed 
President  Juarez  that  unless  the  law  was  annulled  in  twenty-four  hours 
they  should  haul  down  their  flags  and  suspend  all  intercourse. 

Men  who  have  once  exercised  and  enjoyed  great  power  do  not  like  to 
surrender  it.  The  defeated  Clericals  had  rioted  in  wealth  drawn  from  the 
estates  of  the  Church ;  they  had  wielded  political  power  for  a  long  peri 
od  ;  to  lose  their  riches,  become  poor,  and  be  driven  from  office  all  at  the 
same  time  made  them  very  bitter.  They  determined  to  recover  what  they 
had  lost.  Archbishop  Bastida,  ex-President  Miramon,  and  the  Papal  nun 
cio  dementi  all  sailed  for  Europe,  to  counsel  with  Cardinal  Antonelli,  the 
Prime-minister  of  the  Pope,  who  wielded  great  influence  among  the  Cath- 


28  MARCHING  TO   VICTORY. 

the  principle  of  self-government.  He  considered  the  re-establishment  of 
the  Union  impossible,  and  final  separation  a  mere  question  of  time.  The 
difficulty  was  to  find  a  way  to  give  effect  to  his  sympathies.  He  desired 
to  preserve  the  most  friendly  relations  with  England,  and  in  so  grave  a 
matter  he  was  not  willing  to  act  without  her  co-operation.  He  had  several 
times  intimated  his  wish  for  action,  but  England  wished  him  to  draw  the 
chestnuts  from  the  fire  for  her  own  comfort. . . .  He  had  committed  a  great 
error,  which  he  now  regretted.  France  should  never  have  respected  the 
blockade.  The  European  powers  should  never  have  respected  it  last 
summer,  when  our  ports  were  in  our  possession  and  our  armies  menacing 
Washington."(10) 

The  Emperor  of  France  was  watching  every  movement  of  the  great 
struggle.  The  dream  of  empire  had  come  to  him,  and  he  was  at  that  mo 
ment  turning  over  in  his  mind  a  scheme  and  course  of  action  which  he 
thought  would  send  his  name  down  the  ages ;  it  was  to  overthrow  the 
Government  of  Mexico,  establish  an  empire,  and  break  up  the  republican 
form  of  government  in  America,  which  by  its  influence  was  threatening 
the  stability  of  the  monarchies  of  Europe. 

How  the  scheme  came  about,  how  it  began,  the  elevation  of  Maximil 
ian  as  Emperor  of  Mexico,  his  tragic  end,  the  relations  of  Louis  Napoleon 
to  the  Confederacy,  the  overturning  of  all  his  plans  by  the  men  beneath 
the  Stars  and  Stripes,  will  ever  be  a  dramatic  episode  in  the  history  of  our 
country. 

The  establishment  of  the  United  States  as  a  free  and  independent  na 
tion,  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution  in  1787,  set  the  whole  world  think 
ing  upon  the  problem  of  government.  As  the  years  went  by,  Mexico  and 
all  the  South  American  countries  except  Brazil  became  republics.  Dur 
ing  the  administration  of  President  Monroe  the  United  States  announced 
to  the  world  that  the  countries  in  the  Western  Hemisphere  must  be  al 
lowed  to  choose  their  own  form  of  government  without  interference  from 
European  nations.  Mexico  became  a  republic.  Just  before  the  seces 
sion  of  the  Southern  States  there  was  no  end  of  trouble  in  that  country, 
revolution  succeeding  revolution,  and  civil  war.  There  were  two  politi 
cal  parties,  the  u  Church,"  or  "  Clerical,"  party,  with  the  bishops,  padres, 
priests,  and  many  of  the  wealthy  Mexicans  at  its  head,  and  the  "  Liberal," 
or  "  People's,"  party.  The  Clerical  party  had  vast  wealth,  while  the  Lib 
erals  were  poor.  From  the  time  of  Cortez  those  who  owned  large  pos 
sessions  at  death  had  bequeathed  their  property  to  the  Church,  which  held 
under  mortmain — the  dead  hand — lands  which  were  said  to  be  worth  three 
hundred  million  dollars,  and  which  yielded  twenty  million  dollars  per  an- 


OTHER  COUNTRIES.  29 

num,  or  double  the  revenues  of  the  nation.  The  Church  owned  two  thou 
sand  houses  which  were  the  homes  of  the  ecclesiastics,  who  paid  no  taxes ; 
the  whole  property  of  the  Church  being  exempt  from  taxation,  made  the 
burdens  upon  the  people  very  heavy. 

In  1857  the  Clericals  annulled  the  Constitution,  electing  General 
Zuloaga  President,  while  the  Liberals  elected  Benito  Juarez  —  a  man  of 
great  force  of  character,  and  who  had  the  good  of  his  country  ever  in 
view.  Zuloaga  was  soon  succeeded  by  Miramon,  of  the  Clerical  party, 
who  was  wholly  destitute  of  moral  principle,  who  shot  in  cold  blood  men 
politically  opposed  to  him,  and  appropriated  their  property.  He  had  no 
regard  for  law,  but  was  a  law  to  himself.  In  1860  he  seized  six  hun 
dred  and  sixty  thousand  dollars,  which  had  been  set  aside  to  pay  inter 
est  on  bonds  held  in  England.  He  issued  bonds  to  the  amount  of  many 
million  dollars  to  some  French  bankers,  receiving  for  them  about  seven 
hundred  thousand  dollars. (")  Paper  was  cheap,  and  the  printing  cost  but 
a  trifle.  But  he  was  defeated  in  battle,  and  obliged  to  flee  the  country. 
The  Liberals,  having  obtained  control  of  the  Government,  passed  a  law 
recovering  to  the  State  a  very  large  portion  of  the  lands  held  by  the 
Church.  Some  of  the  bishops  who  had  been  very  obnoxious  were  ordered 
to  leave  the  country,  also  the  Papal  nuncio,  together  with  General  Al 
monte,  who  had  commanded  the  Clerical  troops.  Up  to  this  time,  all 
marriages  must  be  authorized  by  the  priests,  but  a  law  was  passed  making 
marriage  by  civil  law  legal.  The  reform  brought  about  in  1859-60  was 
the  beginning  of  a  new  national  life  in  Mexico.  The  people  were  poor; 
the  Clerical  party  had  plundered  them,  and  there  was  no  money  in  the 
treasury  to  carry  on  the  Government  nor  to  pay  the  interest  on  bonds. 
On  July  17, 1861,  the  day  on  which  the  army  of  the  United  States  began 
its  march  to  fight  the  first  battle  at  Bull  Run,  the  Mexican  Congress 
passed  a  law  suspending  the  payment  of  interest  on  the  bonds  for  two 
years,  whereupon  the  ministers  of  England,  France,  and  Spain  informed 
President  Juarez  that  unless  the  law  was  annulled  in  twenty-four  hours 
they  should  haul  down  their  flags  and  suspend  all  intercourse. 

Men  who  have  once  exercised  and  enjoyed  great  power  do  not  like  to 
surrender  it.  The  defeated  Clericals  had  rioted  in  wealth  drawn  from  the 
estates  of  the  Church ;  they  had  wielded  political  power  for  a  long  peri 
od  ;  to  lose  their  riches,  become  poor,  and  be  driven  from  office  all  at  the 
same  time  made  them  very  bitter.  They  determined  to  recover  what  they 
had  lost.  Archbishop  Bastida,  ex-President  Miramon,  and  the  Papal  nun 
cio  Clementi  all  sailed  for  Europe,  to  counsel  with  Cardinal  Antonelli,  the 
Prime-minister  of  the  Pope,  who  wielded  great  influence  among  the  Cath- 


32  MARCHING  TO  VICTORY. 

and  the  agents  of  France  at  once  entered  upon :  the  construction  of  ves 
sels  in  that  country  for  the  Confederate  navy. 

A  great  fleet  of  steamships  and  war-vessels  sailed  from  the  ports  of 
France  in  January,  1863,  transporting  forty-five  thousand  troops  to  Yera 
Cruz,  from  whence  they  marched  to  the  City  of  Mexico  without  serious 
opposition,  for  President  Juarez  could  not  hope  to  defeat  so  large  a  force. 

A  form  of  an  election  was  held  by  the  French  commander,  Marshal 
Bazaine.  The  Clericals  voted  that  Maximilian  be  invited  to  become 
Emperor  of  Mexico,  and  a  deputation  departed  for  Trieste,  in  Austria, 
where  Maximilian  and  Carlotta  were  living  in  the  beautiful  palace  of 
Mirama,  informing  them  of  the  decision  of  the  Mexicans. 

In  June,  1861,  an  agent  of  the  Confederacy  was  in  England  to  obtain 
ships  which  would  destroy  the  ships  owned  by  the  merchants  of  the 
United  States.  He  found  some  builders  at  Liverpool  who  were  ready  to 
construct  a  vessel,  and  who  had  the  draft  of  a  British  war-ship.  While 
the  vessel  was  building,  it  bore  the  name  of  Oreto.  Mr.  Charles  Francis 
Adams  informed  the  British  Government  that  it  was  being  built  for  the 
Confederates.  Under  the  loose  neutrality  which  England  and  France 
saw  fit  to  pursue,  the  Oreto  was  built  and  equipped,  but  not  armed,  and 
in  March,  1862,  was  ready  to  sail-  from  Liverpool  to  begin  her  work  of 
burning  ships  owned  by  the  merchants  of  New  York,  Boston,  and  other 
Northern  cities.(13) 

In  August,  at  Green  Cay,  a  small,  barren  island  in  the  Bahama  group 
of  islands,  the  Prince  Alfred,  a  British  merchant-vessel,  transferred  can 
non  and  ammunition  to  the  Oreto,  and  the  Confederate  captain,  Maffit, 
who  took  the  place  of  the  English  captain,  hoisted  the  Confederate  flag, 
and  changed  the  name  of  the  vessel  to  Florida.  Captain  Maffit  needed 
more  men,  and  succeeded  in  getting  in  past  the  United  States  vessels  block 
ading  the  bay  of  Mobile,  and  out  again,  and  lighting  up  the  ocean  by  set 
ting  on  fire  the  vessels  which  he  captured. 

On  May  15,  1862,  a  ship  was  launched  at  Birkenhead,  opposite  Liver 
pool,  by  the  ship-builders  Messrs.  Laird,  which  was  called  "290,"  it  being 
the  two  hundred  and  ninetieth  vessel  constructed  by  them.  One  of  the 
members  of  the  firm  wras  a  member  of  Parliament.  When  the  vessel  glided 
into  the  water,  a  lady  gave  the  Spanish  name  Enrica  to  the  vessel.  The 
United  States  consul  at  Liverpool,  and  Mr.  Adams,  at  London,  laid  before 
Lord  John  Russell  a  great  amount  of  evidence  that  the  vessel  was  to  be 
a  Confederate  war-ship,  but  the  Government  took  no  measures  to  prevent 
its  completion.  Under  the  neutrality  laws,  a  vessel  might  be  built  for  the 
Confederates,  but  there  was  a  law  against  enlisting  men  to  serve  against 


OTHER   COUNTRIES.  33 

the  United  States,  with  whom  England  was  at  peace.  Mr.  Adams  informed 
Lord  John  Russell  that  English  sailors  were  being  secured  to  man  the  En* 
rica,  and  called  upon  the  British  Government  to  prevent  her  departure. 
The  evidence  was  so  strong  that  Lord  John  Russell  saw  he  must  do  some 
thing,  or  the  United  States  would  have  good  ground  for  complaint.  He 
did  not,  however,  hurry  in  the  matter,  but  delayed  several  days.  Captain 
Bulloch,  who  had  charge  of  the  Enrica,  made  all  haste  to  get  to  sea.  "  I 
received,"  he  says,  "information  from  a  private  but  most  reliable  source 
that  it  would  not  be  safe  to  leave  the  ship  in  Liverpool  another  forty-eight 
hours." 

It  was  a  select  party  of  ladies  and  gentlemen  which  gathered  by  invi 
tation  on  the  deck  of  the  Enrico,  for  a  trial  trip  of  the  vessel  down  Liv 
erpool  harbor.  It  is  quite  probable  that  not  many  on  board  knew  that 
she  never  would  again  drop  anchor  in  the  Mersey.  The  vessel  was  fol 
lowed  by  the  tug-boat  Hercules  with  a  strange  company  on  board  :  from 
eighty  to  one  hundred  men  and  women ;  the  men  mostly  English  sailors, 
with  Frenchmen,  Italians,  and  dark  -  featured  Malayans  —  some  of  them 
boys — all  gathered  from  the  slums  of  Liverpool;  the  women  hard-feat 
ured,  from  whose  cheeks  beauty  had  long  since  faded,  from  whose  brows 
the  light  of  heaven  had  forever  departed.  Of  the  crew  Captain  Semmes, 
who  commanded  the  Alabama,  has  this  to  say:  "These  boys  had  been 
taken  from  the  slums  and  haunts  of  vice  about  Liverpool,  and  were 
as  great  a  set  of  scamps  as  any  disciplinarian  could  desire  to  lick  into 
shape."(14)  While  sherry  and  champagne  were  quaffed  on  board  the  En 
rica,  there  was  much  drinking  of  rum  on  board  the  Hercules.  The  En- 
rica  ran  into  the  calm  waters  of  Moelfa  Bay.  The  steward  of  the  Enrico, 
had  his  stewpans  steaming  and  smoking  with  soup  to  feed  the  hungry- 
crowd.  Captain  Bulloch,  agent  of  the  Confederate  Navy,  called  the  boozy 
sailors  around  him,  asked  them  if  they  would  like  to  ship  for  a  cruise  to 
the  "West  Indies,  provided  they  could  have  a  month's  pay  in  advance ; 
and  all  but  two  or  three  agreed  to  go.  He  gave  them  and  the  women 
each  a  parting  glass  of  grog,  and  the  Hercules,  with  the  ladies  and  gen 
tlemen,  and  the  women  from  the  dens  and  alleys,  steamed  back  to  Liv 
erpool,  while  the  Enrica  sailed  away,  shaping  her  course  to  the  Azores, 
where,  a  few  days  later,  she  dropped  anchor  alongside  the  bark  Agrip- 
piana,  from  which  cannon,  shot,  shell,  powder,  muskets,  pistols,  and  swords 
were  transferred  to  the  Enrica.  The  Confederate  steamer  Bahama  came 
with  a  lot  more  scapegraces  who  had  been  gathered  from  the  lowest  sailors' 
dens  of  a  great  commercial  city. 

On  a  Sunday  morning  the  two  vessels  steamed  out  from  the  harbor  of 
3 


34:  MARCHING   TO  VICTORY. 

the  little  town  of  Angra,  on  the  Island  of  Terceira,  till  more  than  three 
miles  from  land.  Standing  upon  the  quarter-deck  of  the  Enrico,,  Captain 
Raphael  Semmes,  in  a  Confederate  uniform,  with  his  officers  around  him, 
read  the  commission  which  Jefferson  Davis  had  given  him,  appointing  him 
captain  in  the  Confederate  Navy,  and  his  order  from  Mr.  Mallory,  Secre 
tary  of  the  Navy.  The  crew  uncovered  their  heads.  The  English  flag 
was  flying  above  them,  but  at  a  signal  it  came  down  and  a  ball  of  bunt 
ing  at  the  mast-head  flattered  out  into  the  Confederate  flag.  The  ship 
was  no  longer  the  Enrica,  but  the  Alabama — built  in  England  by  Eng 
lish  ship -builders,  English  workmen,  mounted  with  English  cannon,  sup 
plied  with  shot  and  shell  and  powder  from  English  manufacturers,  every 
anchor,  cable,  mast,  halyard,  and  belaying-pin  supplied  by  England,  manned 
by  an  English  crew  in  part,  all  cunningly  transferred  to  the  Confederacy, 
to  begin  a  work  of  destruction  which  would  be  beneficial  to  English  ship 
builders,  masters,  merchants,  but  disastrous  to  the  people  of  the  United 
States ;  which  would  bring  poverty  to  homes  where  there  had  been  plen 
ty  ;  which  would  drive  the  commerce  of  the  United  States  for  a  third  or 
half  a  century  from  the  sea  and  build  up  that  of  Great  Britain,  and  arouse 
an  angry  feeling  towards  that  country  which  would  not  be  allayed  even 
by  the  acknowledgment  on  the  part  of  Great  Britain  of  the  accountability 
of  that  Government,  and  the  payment  of  fifteen  million  dollars  as  damages 
—a  destruction  which  would  in  no  way  be  of  benefit  to  the  Confederacy. 

During  the  summer  months  schools  of  whales  may  be  seen  around  the 
Azores.  Captain  Semmes  was  sure  that  he  would  soon  find  a  large  fleet 
of  whaling- vessels  there ;  nor  was  he  disappointed.  On  the  afternoon  of 
September  4th,  a  sailor  in  the  main-top  of  the  Alabama  gave  the  cry  of 
u  Sail,  ho !"  and,  in  a  short  time,  this  swTift-sailing  vessel,  new,  neat,  trim, 
and  bright  from  an  English  ship-yard,  was  alongside  the  American  ship 
Ocmulgee,  the  crew  of  which  had  captured  a  whale,  and  were  cutting  out 
the  blubber.  The  Alabama  came  up  with  the  English  flag  flying,  but 
Captain  Semmes,  -when  alongside,  hauled  it  down,  and  ran  up  the  Confed 
erate  flag.  In  the  morning  the  torch  was  applied,  and  a  pillar  of  smoke 
rose  heavenward  from  the  burning  oil.  He  ran  in  towards  the  Island  of 
Flores,  and  landed  the  captured  crew  without  money  or  means  to  sustain 
them. 

While  the  prisoners  were  being  sent  ashore,  "  Sail,  ho !"  came  from  the 
mast-head.  Up  went  the  English  colors  over  the  Alabama,  and  the  ship 
Starlight  of  Boston  fell  into  the  hands  of  Captain  Semmes,  with  its  crew 
of  seven  men. 

Captain  Semmes  had  previously  commanded  the  Sumter,  a  Confeder- 


OTHER  COUNTRIES.  35 

ate  cruiser,  and  had  already  burned  many  ships.  The  Sumter  had  reached 
Cadiz,  and  the  paymaster  of  the  vessel  went  to  Tangier,  in  Africa,  to  obtain 
some  supplies  that  were  needed,  when  he  was  arrested  by  the  authorities, 
at  the  request  of  the  United  States  consul,  under  a  treaty  between  the 
United  States  and  Morocco,  and  was  harshly  treated,  having  been  put  in 
irons.  Captain  Semmes  determined  to  have  his  revenge,  and  the  captain 
and  crew  of  the  Starlight  soon  found  themselves  in  irons  on  board  the 
Alabama.  Although  there  were  several  women  on  board  the  vessel  who 
had  taken  passage  to  Boston,  their  discomfort,  disappointment,  and  trouble 
did  not  deter  him  from  carrying  out  his  work  of  destruction.  Nor  did 
the  putting  of  the  seven  men  in  irons  satisfy  his  desire  for  revenge  for 
the  indignity  to  the  paymaster  of  the  Sumter.  These  his  words : 

"  I  pursued  this  practice,  painful  as  it  was,  for  the  next  seven  or  eight 
captures,  putting  the  masters,  mates  of  ships,  as  well  as  the  crews,  in 
irons."(16) 

For  the  next  few  days  the  ocean  around  the  Azores  was  lighted  with 
burning  vessels,  set  on  fire  by  Captain  Semmes — officers  and  crew  enrich 
ing  themselves  with  whatever  they  could  find  upon  the  unresisting  and 
helpless  whaling-vessels,  manned  by  the  peaceful  toilers  of  the  seas. 


NOTES  TO  CHAPTER  II. 

( J)  Mason  to  Benjamin,  Confederate  State  Papers. 

( 2)  Russell  to  Lyons,  diplomatic  correspondence. 

( 3)  Mason  to  Benjamin,  unpublished  Confederate  State  Papers. 

( 4)  Wilkes's  report  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy. 

( 5)  George  Kimball,  member  of  regiment,  to  author. 

( 6)  Martin,  "Life  of  the  Prince  Consort,"  vol.  v.,  p.  423. 
( ')  "Life  of  Thurlow  Weed,"  vol.  ii.,  p.  347. 

( 8)  Mason  to  Benjamin,  unpublished  Confederate  State  Papers. 

( 9)  Idem. 

H  Slidell  to  Benjamin,  July  25, 1862. 

(»)  Corwin  to  Seward,  diplomatic  correspondence,  June  29, 1861. 

(12)  Slidell  to  Benjamin,  October  28,  1862. 

(13)  Bulloch,  "Confederate  Secret  Service,"  p.  238. 

(14)  Semmes,  "Memoirs  of  Service  Afloat,"  p.  454 

(15)  Idem,  p.  429. 


36  MARCHING  TO  VICTORY. 


CHAPTEK  III. 

IN   THE    SOUTH-WEST. 

THE  year  1863  opened  with  victory  for  the  Army  of  the  Cumberland 
at  Stone  River,  but  with  disaster  to  the  Union  cause  at  Galveston, 
in  Texas,  held  by  three  companies  of  the  Forty -second  Massachusetts 
regiment,  commanded  by  Colonel  Burrell.  In  the  harbor  was  a  naval 
force — the  Harriet  Lane,  Owasco,  Westfield,  and  Clifton.  The  two  last 
were  old  ferry-boats,  fitted  up  for  blockaders,  carrying  heavy  guns.  Cap 
tain  Renshaw  commanded  the  fleet.  He  took  possession  of  the  city  be 
fore  the  arrival  of  the  troops,  and  assured  Colonel  Burrell  that  the  Con 
federates  would  not  dare  to  make  an  attack. 

General  Magruder  was  in  command  of  the  Confederates  in  Texas.  He 
fitted  up  two  steamers — the  Bayou  City  and  the  Neptune — filling  them 
with  bales  of  cotton,  with  embrasures  for  his  cannon.  He  had  one  heavy 
gun — a  68-pounder — but  his  other  cannon  were  field-pieces.  One  hundred 
and  fifty  sharp-shooters  were  placed  on  each  vessel,  to  pick  off  the  gun 
ners  of  the  Union  fleet. 

It  was  three  o'clock  in  the  morning  New-year's-day  when  the  Union 
pickets  discovered  between  four  and  five  thousand  Confederate  troops  ad 
vancing  to  attack  the  town  held  by  the  handful  of  men  who  had  built  a 
barricade  of  cotton^ales  on  a  wharf.  The  Union  vessels — Sachem,  a  small 
steamer,  Corypheus,  a  yacht,  and  the  Owasco — opened  fire,  which  with  the 
musketry  kept  the  Confederates  at  bay.  Twice  they  attempted  to  charge, 
but  were  repulsed,  with  many  killed  and  wounded. 

At  daylight  the  two  Confederate  steamers  came  down  the  river,  and 
the  Harriet  Lane  steamed  up  the  channel  to  meet  them,  firing  with  her 
bow  gun,  which  burst  at  the  third  discharge,  steering  straight  for  the 
Bayou  City,  striking  her  wheel-house,  pouring  in  a  broadside,  being  struck 
in  turn  by  the  Neptune,  which  did  little  injury  to  the  Harriet  Lane,  but 
which  opened  her  own  seams  so  wide  that  the  water  rushed  in,  and  a  few 
moments  later  she  went  to  the  bottom.  The  Bayou  City  ran  alongside 
the  Union  vessel,  and  the  sharp-shooters  began  to  pick  off  the  men  at  the 


IN   THE   SOUTH-WEST.  39 

guns,  mortally  wounding  Lieutenant  Lea.  They  leaped  on  board,  but  were 
met  by  Captain  Wainwright,  who  fought  till  pierced  with  seven  wounds. 
The  acting-master  who  succeeded  to  the  command  needlessly  surrendered 
the  ship.  The  Westfield,  with  Commodore  Renshaw  on  board,  was  three 
miles  away,  and  in  attempting  to  reach  the  Lane  ran  aground.  The  Clifton 
went  to  her  assistance.  The  Owasco  started  to  assist  the  Harriet  Lane, 
but  after  her  surrender  could  not  open  fire  without  killing  or  wounding 
those  who  had  surrendered.  The  Confederates  ran  up  a  flag  of  truce, 
sent  word  to  Renshaw  announcing  their  capture  of  the  Harriet  Lane,  and 
saying  that  two-thirds  of  her  crew  had  been  killed  or  wounded,  whereas 
the  number  was  less  than  a  dozen.  They  offered  Renshaw  the  privilege 
of  taking  one  of  the  vessels  out  of  the  harbor  with  the  crews  of  all. 

While  this  was  going  on,  a  flag  of  truce  was  hoisted  on  shore  under 
which  the  Confederates  came  down  with  the  Harriet  Lane  and  Neptune, 
and  took  position  to  pour  a  fire  upon  the  Union  troops,  which  compelled 
their  surrender.  The  terms  proposed  to  Commodore  Renshaw  were  re 
fused  by  him,  but  the  Westfield  could  not  be  removed,  and  had  to  be  de 
stroyed.  A  train  was  laid,  but  some  one  lighted  it  too  soon,  and  the 
explosion  of  the  magazine  came  before  the  commodore  could  leave  the 
ship.  He  was  killed,  together  with  several  sailors.  The  other  vessels 
made  their  way  out  of  the  harbor  and  sailed  for  South- west  Pass,  leaving 
Galveston  without  any  vessel  to  continue  the  blockade.  The  affair  was  a 
series  of  mishaps.  General  Magruder  issued  a  proclamation  announcing 
that  the  blockade  was  raised ;  but  before  the  week  ended  Commodore  Bell 
was  off  the  harbor  with  the  Brooklyn  and  Hatteras  and  several  other  ves 
sels,  again  closing  the  port. 

Commodore  Bell  saw  a  vessel  in  the  distance,  and  sent  the  Hatteras, 
commanded  by  Captain  Blake,  to  find  out  what  ship  was  sailing  away 
towards  the  south,  as  if  trying  to  escape.  It  was  seven  o'clock  in  the 
evening  when  the  Hatteras  came  up  with  the  stranger.  The  last  ray  of 
twilight  had  faded  from  the  western  sky,  and  it  was  quite  dark. 

"  What  steamer  is  that  ?"  was  the  hail  from  the  Hatteras. 

" Her  Britannic  Majesty's  ship  Vixen"  the  reply. 

"  I  will  send  a  boat  on  board,"  the  response  from  the  Hatteras. 

The  boat  was  lowered.  "  This  is  the  Confederate  steamer  Alabama" 
came  through  the  darkness ;  and  at  the  same  moment  the  thunder  of  a 
broadside,  the  crash  and  explosion  of  shells  in  the  Hatteras,  which  sent 
back  a  feeble  reply,  and  which  in  thirteen  minutes  was  at  the  bottom  of 
the  sea.  When  Blake  saw  that  his  vessel  was  going  down,  he  fired  a  lee 
gun  as  a  signal  that  he  had  surrendered,  and  the  Alabamans  boats  were 


MARCHING   TO  VICTORY. 


lowered,  and  the  crew  transferred  to  that  vessel.  The  Hatteras  was  no 
match  for  the  Alabama,  which  steamed  rapidly  away,  Captain  Semmes, 
well  knowing  that  the  Brooklyn  would  ere  long  be  down  upon  him. 
He  landed  his  prisoners  at  Port  Royal,  Jamaica,  and  received  the  congrat 
ulations  of  the  officers  of  several  English  war-ships  over  his  exploit^1) 

During  the  last  days  of  December,  1862,  the  army  under  General 
Grant,  which  had  been  moving  southward  along  the  railroad  to  gain  the 
rear  of  Vicksburg,  had  been  compelled  to  turn  back,  not  from  defeat  in 
battle,  but  because  the  Confederates  had  succeeded  in  capturing  and  de 
stroying  his  supplies  at  Holly  Springs,  in  Mississippi.  General  Sherman 
had  been  repulsed  at  Chickasaw  Bluffs,  on  the  Yazoo,  a  short  distance 
above  Yicksburg,  and  on  January  2,  1863,  was  at  Milliken's  Bend,  on  the 
Mississippi.  General  McClernand,  having  been  appointed  by  President 
Lincoln  to  fit  out  an  expedition  against  Vicksburg,  arrived  and  assumed 
command.  General  Sherman,  although  repulsed  in  his  movement,  had 
already  planned  another. 

Fifty  miles  up  the  Arkansas  River  the  Confederates  had  constructed 

Fort  Hindmanr  located  at  a  bend 
of  the  stream,  to  prevent  the  pas 
sage  of  the  Union  gunboats. 
Three  heavy  cannon  had  been 
placed  in  position,  together  with 
fourteen  pieces  of  field  artillery. 
General  Churchill,  with  five  thou 
sand  troops,  held  the  position. 
General  Sherman  thought  that  it 
would  not  be  a  difficult  matter  to 
capture  the  fort,  and  so  on  Janu 
ary  5th  seven  gunboats  and  the 

FORT  HINDMAN  AT  AKKANSAS  POST.  ram     Monarch     Steamed      lip      the 

Mississippi,  accompanied  by  a 

great  fleet  of  river  steamers  crowded  with  troops,  and  entered  the  Arkan 
sas  River. 

The  troops  were  landed  on  the  northern  bank,  three  miles  below  the 
fort ;  two  corps — one  under  General  Sherman,  and  the  other  commanded 
by  General  Morgan.  A  brigade  commanded  by  General  Lindsey  landed 
on  the  south  bank,  and  marched  through  the  woods  up  to  the  bend  of 
the  river  opposite  the  fort,  to  prevent  the  Confederates  from  crossing  at 
that  point  and  escaping. 

A  line  of  breastworks  extended  from  the  fort  westward  to  a  bayou, 


IN  THE   SOUTH-WEST.  4:3 

where  most  of  the  Confederates  were  in  position,  to  prevent  the  Union 
troops  from  attacking  from  the  rear.  Just  at  sunset  the  gunboats  steamed 
up  towards  the  fort,  and  sent  their  shells  into  it  for  a  few  minutes ;  but 
the  troops  had  not  reached  the  position  assigned  to  them,  and  were  not 
ready  for  a  battle,  whereupon  the  gunboats  ceased  firing,  floated  back 
with  the  current,  and  waited  till  morning.  Not  till  past  noon  the  next  day 
(January  10th)  were  the  troops  in  position,  and  then,  at  a  signal  from  the 
shore,  the  solid  shot  ploughed  up  the  embankments,  and  shells  exploded 
among  the  Confederate  gunners,  quickly  silencing  the  fire  of  the  fort., 
dismounting  the  guns,  and  splintering  the  carriages. 

While  this  tempest  was  raining  upon  the  Confederates  from  the  fleet, 
Sherman  and  Morgan  opened  their  field  batteries.  Then  the  troops 
advanced,  and  the  musketry  began.  The  Union  troops  were  preparing 
to  charge  across  the  plateau  and  sweep  over  the  breastworks,  when  they 
saw  a  white  flag  go  up.  General  Churchill  had  not  ordered  it,  nor  did  he 
know  who  had  raised  it.  "  Take  it  down  !"  shouted  a  Confederate  officer  ; 
but  no  one  obeyed  the  order,  for  the  soldiers  had  lost  heart  and  thrown 
down  their  guns.  The  whole  Confederate  force  was  surrendered,  with 
seventeen  cannon.  The  success  revived  the  spirits  of  the  Union  troops, 
which  had  begun  to  droop  after  the  repulse  at  Chickasaw  Bluffs. 

The  army  returned  to  the  mouth  of  the  Arkansas,  where  General 
Grant  soon  arrived  and  took  command  of  all  the  troops,  and  laid  his  plans 
for  capturing  Yicksburg.  General  Banks,  with  several  thousand  men,  and 
the  fleet  under  Admiral  Farragut,  were  to  co-operate  with  him  by  advanc 
ing  from  New  Orleans  to  capture  Port  Hudson. 

During  the  winter  gangs  of  slaves  had  been  at  work  on  the  bluffs  at 
that  point,  piling  up  great  banks  of  earth  and  lifting  heavy  guns  into  posi 
tion.  The  batteries  commanded  the  river  for  a  distance  of  four  miles. 
Opposite  the  town  the  river  makes  a  bend  — running  north-east,  then 
turning  sharply  to  the  south.  Many  of  the  vessels  of  Farragut's  fleet 
had  been  sent  from  the  Mississippi  to  service  elsewhere,  and  he  had 
only  seven,  besides  the  mortar-boats.  The  Hartford,  destined  to  become, 
like  the  Constitution,  one  of  the  historic  ships  of  our  country  and  of  the 
world,  was  the  flag-ship.  The  fleet  was  to  ascend  the  river,  not  for  the 
purpose  of  engaging  the  batteries,  but  to  aid  General  Grant  and  to  patrol 
the  river  between  Port  Hudson  and  Vicksburg,  to  prevent  the  Confeder 
ates  east  of  the  Mississippi  from  receiving  supplies  from  the  States  west 
of  it.  To  insure  success  a  gunboat  was  to  be  lashed  to  the  port  or  left 
side  of  the  three  largest  ships.  The  Albatross  was  fastened  to  the  Hart 
ford,  the  Genesee  to  the  Richmond,  the  Kineo  to  the  Monongahela.  The 


44 


MARCHING  TO   VICTORY. 


Mississippi  was  an  old  steamer  with  side  wheels,  and  could  not  be  lashed 
to  another  vessel.  General  Banks  was  to  advance  from  Baton  Rouge, 
to  make  a  demonstration  by  land.  He  had  only  twelve  thousand  men, 
while  General  Gardiner,  commanding  at  Port  Hudson,  had  sixteen  thou 
sand  Confederates. 

On  the  afternoon  of  March  14th  the  fleet  steamed  up  the  river,  the 
iron-clad  Essex  and  the  mortar-boats  tying  up  to  the  eastern  bank  by 
Prophet's  Island.  The  sailors  up  at  the  mast-head  could  see  the  yellow 
earth-works  where  the  Confederate  cannon  were  planted.  A  courier  came 


UNITED   STATES   SLOOP-OF-WAR   "HARTFORD." 

,-   _•_ 

in  from  General  Banks,  who  was  ready  to  advance  in  rear  of  the  town. 
The  sun  went  down  and  the  twilight  faded  away.  During  the  night  the 
sailors  saw  a  red  light  flickering  at  the  stern  of  the  Hartford;  there  were 
answering  lights  from  each  ship,  and  then  the  anchors  began  to  rise  from 
the  water,  and  each  crew  stood  beside  their  guns,  their  sleeves  rolled  up, 
rammers  and  sponges  in  hand,  shells  placed  beside  the  cannon.  Upon  the 
quarter-deck  stood  the  admiral,  with  his  little  boy — his  only  son — by  his 
side,  who  had  come  to  visit  his  father. 

"  Your  son  will  be  safer  down  below  with  me,  and  he  may  be  able  to 
assist  me,"  said  Surgeon  Foltz  to  Farragut. 


IN   THE    SOUTH-WEST.  47 

"  No,  that  will  not  do.  It  is  true  our  only  child  is  on  board  by  chance, 
and  he  is  not  in  the  service ;  but  being  here,  he  will  act  as  one  of  my 
aides  to  assist  in  conveying  my  orders,  and  we  will  trust  in  Providence 
and  in  the  fortunes  of  war,"  was  the  reply. 

"  I  want  to  be  on  deck  where  I  can  see  the  fight,"  said  the  boy. 

While  the  vessels  were  getting  ready,  the  admiral  was  showing  his  son 
how  to  make  a  tourniquet  to  stop  the  flowing  of  blood  from  an  artery- 
putting  a  piece  of  rope  around  his  arm,  with  a  knot  in  it  which  would 
press  against  an  artery,  then  twisting  it  with  a  bit  of  wood  or  a  jack- 
knife. 

Those  on  the  vessels  saw  a  rocket  rise  in  the  air  from  the  eastern 
bluffs,  and  the  next  moment  shells  were  bursting  over  the  fleet.  Then 
the  rifled-gun  at  the  bow  of  the  Hartford  sent  its  answer.  From  the 
fleet  of  mortar-boats  down  by  Prophet's  Island  came  a  roll  of  thunder, 
and  arched  lines  of  light  trailed  through  the  air.  Then  there  were  flashes 
above  the  Confederate  batteries  where  the  thirteen-inch  shells  were  burst 
ing,  and  raining  jagged  pieces  of  iron  upon  the  men  working  the  guns. 

Fires  of  pitch-wood  were  kindled  upon  'the  shore  by  the  Confederates 
to  light  up  the  river  that  the  gunners  on  the  bluffs  might  take  surest  aim 
at  the  vessels.  Clouds  of  smoke  roll  up  from  the  guns  of  the  Hartford 
so  dense  that  Thomas  R.  Carroll,  pilot  up  in  the  mizzen-top,  who  knows 
every  sand-bar,  eddy,  and  current  in  the  river,  cannot  see  just  where  he  is 
for  the  moment ;  but  when  the  cloud  drifts  away  the  men  at  the  wheel, 
with  shells  exploding  around  them  and  solid  shot  crashing  against  the 
sides  of  the  vessel,  hear  him  saying,  as  coolly  as  if  on  his  own  river  steam 
boat,  "  Starboard !  Port !"  and  the  grand  ship  moves  on,  the  spars  splin 
tering,  the  rigging  cut  into  shreds,  but  no  shot  reaching  the  boilers  or 
engine. 

Less  fortunate  the  other  vessels.  A  shot  passed  through  the  steam- 
pipe  of  the  Richmond,  stopping  the  working  of  the  engine.  She  was 
almost  past  the  batteries,  in  the  sharp  bend  of  the  river  where  the  current 
is  swift  and  strong,  swirling  with  such  force  that  the  Genesee,  lashed  to 
her,  was  powerless ;  and  the  two  boats  were  whirled  back — a  whole  gun's 
crew  being  swept  away  by  a  single  cannon-shot. 

The  Monongahela,  near  the  turning-point  in  the  river,  grounded  on 
the  western  shore.  The  Kineo^s  rudder  had  been  shot  away,  also  the 
cables  which  lashed  her  to  the  Monongahela.  For  thirty  minutes  the 
vessels  lay  there,  the  shot  from  the  batteries  sweeping  the  decks,  disabling 
three  guns.  The  Kineo  threw  out  her  cables  and  pulled  the  Mononga 
hela  from  the  shore,  and  the  vessels  drifted  down  the  stream  within  one 


MARCHING  TO   VICTORY. 


PORT   HUDSON. 


hundred  feet  of  the  muzzles  of  the  Confederate  cannon  belching  grape 
and  canister,  and  sharp-shooters  jumping  upon  the  parapets  and  firing 
their  muskets  at  the  men  on  the  vessels. 

A  worse  fate  befell  the  Mississippi,  which 
ran  ashore  on  the  point  opposite  the  last  Con 
federate  battery.  The  engineer  put  on  all  steam 
and  tried  to  back  the  vessel.  A  cross-fire  from 
three  batteries  was  tearing  the  vessel  to  pieces. 

"  It  will  be  impossible  to  get  the  vessel  off," 
said  the  pilot.  Captain  Smith  ordered  the  small 
boats  to  be  launched  and  the  wounded  lifted  into 
them.  The  guns  were  spiked,  the  vessel  set  on 
fire,  burning  till  daylight,  then  blowing  up  with 
an  explosion  heard  far  away.  When  morning 
dawned  the  Hartford  and  Albatross  were  above 
Port  Hudson,  the  remainder  of  the  fleet,  each 
vessel  more  or  less  disabled,  below  the  town. 
Thirty -five  had  been  killed  and  seventy- eight 
wounded ;  but  the  two  vessels  above  the  town, 

together  with  the  river  gunboats  which  ran  past  the  batteries  at  Yicks- 
burg,  were  sufficient  to  patrol  the  river  and  interfere  seriously  with  all 
efforts  of  the  Confederates  to  ferry  troops  or  supplies  across  the  stream. 

Admiral  Porter  sent  down  the  iron-clad  gunboat  Indianola.  It  was 
a  large,  un wieldly  craft.  The  Confederate  batteries  opened,  and  it  was  a 
grand  spectacle — the  flaming  of  the  great  guns  two  hundred  feet  above 
the  river,  together  with  those  at  the  base  of  the  bluff,  the  shot  and 
shells  tossing  up  the  water  or  exploding  around  the  Indianola,  which 
was  uninjured. 

The  Queen  of  the  West,  the  ram  which  had  taken  part  in  the  naval 
battle  at  Memphis,  ran  past  the  batteries  on  the  morning  of  February 
2d,  starting  just  as  the  sun  was  rising,  and  was  under  fire  nearly  an  hour. 
When  opposite  the  city,  the  Queen  of  the  West  rammed  the  Confederate 
City  of  Vicksburg,  lying  at  the  levee,  damaging  that  vessel.  The  ram  was 
struck  twelve  times,  and  had  one  cannon  dismounted.  A  shell  exploded 
in  the  cabin,  but  she  reached  the  lower  fleet. 

The  Confederates  had  several  vessels  up  Red  River  which  the  Queen 
of  the  West  attempted  to  capture,  but  in  engaging  a  Confederate  battery 
ran  aground  and  was  abandoned  by  her  commander,  Colonel  Ellet,  who 
went  on  board  a  small  steamer  and  escaped.  The  Confederates  repaired 
the  Queen  of  the  West,  and  with  the  ram  Webb  and  two  other  boats,  on  a 


\ 


IN   THE   SOUTH-WEST.  51 

dark  night,  came  upon  the  Indianola,  which  had  two  great  coal -barges 
lashed  to  her  sides.  There  was  a  flashing  of  cannon  in  the  darkness,  and  a 
ramming  of  the  Indianola  by  the  powerful  Queen.  The  water  began  to 
pour  in  through  the  seams  of  the  Indianola.  The  gunners  pitched  their 
cannon  overboard  and  then  surrendered. 

The  sailors  and  soldiers  with  Admiral  Porter  and  General  Grant  above 
Yicksburg  obtained  an  old  coal-barge,  raised  a  frame  over  it  which  they 
covered  with  boards,  making  port-holes  in  which  they  placed  logs  of  wood 
to  represent  cannon.  They  knocked  out  the  heads  of  some  empty  pork- 
barrels  and  piled  one  upon  another  for  smoke-stacks,  placed  one  tobacco 
hogshead  forward,  another  aft,  to  represent  turrets,  and  a  third  for  a  pilot 
house,  made  a  fireplace  under  the  smoke-stacks,  in  which  they  placed  a 
barrel  of  tar.  The  night  was  dark  when  they  cut  it  adrift — first  setting 
the  tar  on  fire,  which  sent  up  a  great  black  column  of  smoke.  The  Con 
federate  sentinels  saw  a  craft  in  appearance  almost  like  the  Indianola, 
which  they  had  captured,  and  which  was  being  repaired  below  Vicksburg. 
The  batteries  opened,  but  the  Union  craft  moved  slowly  on,  never  return 
ing  fire.  The  Confederates  could  not  think  of  having  the  Indianola  re 
captured  ;  they  set  her  on  fire  and  fled  to  the  shore.  Then  came  a  loud 
explosion ;  the  air  was  filled  with  planks  and  burning  timbers,  which 
rained  down  into  the  water,  and  that  was  the  last  of  the  Indianola.  The 
Queen  of  the  West  and  the  other  Confederate  vessels  steamed  down  the 
stream  to  get  beyond  the  reach  of  the  guns  of  the  iron-clad,  as  they  sup 
posed  it  to  be,  while  the  Union  soldiers  on  the  Arkansas  shore  danced, 
shouted,  and  hurrahed  at  the  fooling  they  had  given  the  Confederates. 

The  valley  of  the  Mississippi  below  Memphis  is  very  wide,  and  there 
are  many  windings  to  the  great  river.  When  the  winter  floods  pour  out 
from  the  Ohio  and  its  tributaries — the  Cumberland,  Tennessee,  Wabash, 
Muskingum,  Scioto,  and  Illinois,  on  the  eastern  side,  from  the  Missouri, 
Arkansas,  and  the  vast  net- work  of  lakes,  bayous,  and  rivers  of  Arkansas  on 
the  west,  the  bottom-lands  of  the  valley  are  all  overflowed,  or  are  only 
kept  free  from  inundation  by  the  embankments  which  have  been  erected, 
and  which  are  called  levees.  The  bottom-lands  are  covered  with  a  dense 
forest  of  luxuriant  tulip,  magnolia,  cypress,  sycamore,  cotton -wood,  and 
gum  trees,  with  twining  vines  and  cane  thickets.  The  soil  is  deep  and 
black.  Along  the  crescent-shaped  lakes  and  shores  of  the  bayous  it  is  a 
slimy  ooze.  There  are  sink-holes  where  man  or  animal  would  disappear, 
where  the  air  is  thick  with  malaria,  and  where  chills  and  fever  break  down 
the  strongest  constitution.  People  who  live  upon  these  lands  have  sunken 
cheeks  and  sallow  complexions.  At  times  the  floods  suddenly  rise  and 


52  MARCHING   TO  VICTORY. 

then  their  log-cabins,  corn-ricks,  and  barns,  their  horses,  cattle,  and  every 
thing  else  is  carried  away  by  the  sweeping  torrent,  which  frequently  cuts 
across  a  point  of  land  and  forms  a  new  channel  for  the  Father  of  Waters. 

The  winter  floods  were  rising.  General  Grant  knew  that  the  Missis 
sippi  opposite  the  mouth  of  the  Yazoo  flows  north-east  five  rniles  until  it 
strikes  the  high  bluffs  above  Yicksburg,  makes  a  sharp  bend  opposite  the 
city,  then  flows  south-west.  He  knew  that  the  bluffs  extended  south  for 
nearly  seven  miles  to  Warrentoii ;  that  twenty-eight  heavy  guns  had  been 
mounted  by  the  Confederates  nearly  two  hundred  feet  above  the  river, 
which  could  send  their  shot  and  shell  down  lipon  the  gunboats,  or  throw 
them  far  and  wide  over  the  point  of  land  opposite  the  town.  When  Ad 
miral  Farragut  came  up  from  New  Orleans  with  his  fleet  of  ocean  sailing 
war-ships  in  1862  he  ran  past  the  batteries,  but  it  was  seen  that  the  place 
could  not  be  taken  by  the  gunboats.  He  set  two  thousand  negroes  to 
cutting  a  canal  across  the  point  of  land  opposite  the  town,  intending  by  so 
doing  to  open  a  new  channel  for  the  river,  but  the  opening  at  the  upper 
end  did  not  start  at  the  proper  angle  to  make  it  successful,  and  the  Missis 
sippi  still  swept  past  the  town.  General  Grant  set  four  thousand  men  to 
work  enlarging  and  altering  it,  but  the  dam  at  the  upper  end  gave  way, 
filled  the  canal  with  water,  stopping  work,  but  not  clearing  a  new  chan 
nel.  Dredge-boats  came  from  Louisville  worked  by  steam-engines,  which 
scooped  out  cart-loads  of  mud,  but  the  Confederate  cannon  opened  upon 
them,  new  batteries  were  constructed  opposite  the  lower  end  of  the  canal, 
and  the  work  had  to  be  abandoned. 

General  Grant  had  foreseen  the  possible  failure  of  the  attempt,  and 
was  looking  the  while  in  other  directions.  Thirty  miles  above  Yicksburg, 
in  Arkansas,  is  Lake  Providence — a  crescent-shaped  sheet  of  water  which 
connects  with  the  Tensas  River,  a  branch  of  Red  River.  The  engineers 
thought  a  passage  might  be  opened  to  that  stream,  by  which  the  troops 
could  co-operate  with  General  Banks  and  Admiral  Farragut,  take  Port 
Hudson,  receiving  their  supplies  from  New  Orleans.  General  M'Pher- 
son's  corps  was  sent  to  clear  a  channel.  The  soldiers  stood  waist-deep  in 
mud  and  water  digging  out  stumps,  cutting  down  trees,  doing  a  great  deal 
of  hard  work.  The  canal  was  opened,  one  steamboat  with  barges  passed 
through,  but  the  river  did  not  cut  a  new  channel,  and  when  the  water  be 
gan  to  fall  it  was  no  longer  navigable. 

The  engineers  reported  another  plan — the  opening  of  what  all  the 
river  men  called  the  Yazoo  Pass.  Opposite  the  town  of  Helena  is  Moon 
Lake,  connected  by  a  narrow  channel  with  the  Mississippi,  and  also  con 
nected  with  the  Coldwater  River,  a  branch  of  the  Tallahatchie,  which 


IN   THE    SOUTH-WEST. 


53 


CUTTING   THE    CANAL. 
From  a  Sketch  made  at  the  Time. 


emptied  into  the  Yazoo.  The  lake  is  seventy  miles  north  of  Vicksburg. 
When  the  levees  —  the  embankments  along  the  Mississippi  —  were  con 
structed  the  channel  leading  to  Moon  Lake  was  filled.  The  engineers 


MARCHING   TO   VICTORY. 


now  proposed  to  cut  the  embankment.  The  soldiers  dug  away  the  earth, 
and  the  water  rushed  in,  sweeping  fallen  trees,  drift-wood,  and  everything 
else  before  it.  The  gunboats  followed,  and  steamers  with  four  thousand 
soldiers,  but  they  found  it  difficult  to  get  on,  for  the  great  sycamores  and 

cotton-woods  with  their  interlocked 
branches  blocked  the  way.  There 
was  a  clattering  of  axes,  and  the  re 
moval  of  great  piles  of  drift-wood, 
but  .the  boats  only  made  eight  miles 
in  three  days. 

General  Pembertori,  at  Vicks- 
burg,  learning  through  his  scouts 
and  spies  what  General  Grant  was 
doing,  constructed  a  fort,  which  bore 
his  own  name,  at  Greenwood.  Eight 
heavy  cannon  were  mounted,  trees 
felled,  and  a  great  raft  moored  to 
prevent  the  passage  of  the  gunboats. 
General  Loring  was  in  command  with 
two  thousand  men. 

Admiral   Porter   sent    five   gun 
boats  to   bombard   the  fort.      Gen 
eral  Grant  sent  a  brigade  to  assist ; 
but   the  whole   country   was   under 
water,  and  the  troops  could  do  noth 
ing   against   the   Confederates,  who 
were  on  a  point  of  land   not   over 
flowed.     The  gunboats  opened  fire,  but  it  was  soon  seen  that  there  was 
little  chance  of  accomplishing  anything,  and  the  fleet  returned  to  Helena. 

General  Grant  had  discovered  another  route  by  which  he  hoped  to 
gain  the  rear  of  Yicksburg.  He  could  not  go  up  the  Yazoo  above  Haines's 
Bluffs  with  the  fleet,  for  there  Confederate  batteries  blocked  the  way ; 
but  he  could  go  up  Steele's  Bayou,  near  the  mouth  of  the  Yazoo,  forty 
miles  to  Black  Bayou,  go  through  that  into  Deer  Creek,  and  up  that  thirty 
miles  to  Rolling  Fork,  through  that  to  Sunflower  River,  and  down  that 
fifty  miles  to  the  Yazoo,  above  Yazoo  City.  The  entire  distance  would 
be  nearly  two  hundred  miles.  General  Grant  and  Admiral  Porter  both 
went  as  far  as  Black  Bayou,  and  found  nothing  in  the  way  which  could 
not  readily  be  removed.  They  hoped  to  get  the  gunboats  aud  steamers 
with  troops  into  the  Yazoo  before  Pemberton  learned  of  the  movement. 


PROVIDENCE  LAKE  EXPEDITION. 


IN   THE   SOUTH-WEST. 


55 


They  did  not  know  that  Pemberton's  spies  kept  him  fully  informed  of  all 
that  was  going  on. 

On  March  16th  the  gunboats  started,  and  on  the  18th  they  were 
almost  to  the  Kolling  Fork.  Admiral  Porter  had  seen  no  signs  of  any 
Confederates ;  but  on  the  19th,  when  near  the  Sunflower,  shells  came 
crashing  through  the  woods,  sharp-shooters  began  to  pick  off  the  men, 
and  Porter  discovered  that  a  brigade  was  moving  to  get  in  his  rear,  erect 
a  battery,  build  a  raft,  and  prevent  his  going  back.  General  Sherman 
had  been  directed  to  follow  Porter  with  his  corps,  but  was  several  miles 
distant.  The  admiral  found  a  negro  who  knew  all  the  surrounding  coun 
try,  and  who  could  pick  his  way  through  the  swamps  in  the  darkest  night, 
and  intrusted  him  with  a  message  to  Sherman.  It  was  written  on  tissue- 
paper,  and  the  negro  wrapped  it  up  in  a  plug  of  tobacco,  made  his  way 
through  the  canebrakes,  along  lonely  paths,  eluding  the  Confederate 
pickets,  and  found  General  Sher 
man,  who  was  at  Hill's  Plantation, 
on  Deer  Creek,  and  who  ordered 
Gen.  Giles  A.  Smith,  who  had  eight 
hundred  men  there,  to  start  at  once 
and  make  his  way  to  the  gunboats. 
General  Sherman  jumped  into  a  ca 
noe,  and  paddled  down  Black  Bayou 
alone  to  the  steamer  Silver  Wave, 
with  more  troops  on  board.  Pie  or 
dered  a  portion  of  the  troops  to  get 
into  a  coal-barge,  which  was  taken  in 
tow  by  a  tug-boat,  which  was  followed 
by  the  Silver  Wave;  and  together 
they  went  up  the  bayou,  crashing  be 
tween  the  trees,  losing  the  pilot 
house,  the  smoke-stacks,  and  every 
thing  above  the  deck.  The  night 
was  pitch  dark,  and  the  steamer 
could  make  little  headway,  where 
upon  General  Sherman,  impatient  at 
the  delay,  landed  the  troops,  lighted 
torches,  and  they  picked  their  way  through  the  canebrake  till  they  reached 
an  old  cotton-field.  Daylight  came.  They  could  hear  the  thunder  of  the 
cannon,  and  went  in  that  direction  upon  the  run,  General  Sherman  on  foot 
with  the  soldiers.  They  followed  an  old  road,  which  took  them  through 


NAPOLEON. 


LAKE 
PROVIDING 


EXPERIMENT   BY   MOON   LAKE. 


56 


MARCHING   TO   VICTORY. 


swamps  where  the  water  was  waist-deep,  where  the  soldiers  slung  their 
cartridge-boxes  around  their  necks,  and  the  drummer -boys  held  their 
drums  above  their  heads.  The  cannonading  was  thirty  miles  away,  but 
before  noon  they  had  made  twenty-one  miles,  when  they  met  a  portion  of 

the  Eighth  Missouri,  which  had  been 
sent  down  by  Admiral  Porter  to 
prevent  the  Confederates  from  plant 
ing  a  battery  in  his  rear. 

General  Sherman  sat  down  upon 
the  door-sill  of  a  negro  cabin  to  rest, 
when  just  ahead  he  heard  the  rattle 
of  musketry.  He  ran  up  the  road 
and  found  that  the  troops  had  sud 
denly  come  upon  a  detachment  of 
Confederates,  and  a  gang  of  slaves 
with  axes  and  shovels,  intending  to 
erect  a  battery.  The  troops  deploy 
ed  and  charged  through  the  woods, 
putting  the  Confederates  to  flight. 
Major  Kirby,  of  the  Missouri  Eighth 
Regiment,  had  picked  up  a  horse 
which  he  brought  to  General  Sher 
man.  There  was  no  saddle,  but  the 
general  leaped  upon  the  bare  back 
of  the  animal  and  went  on.  The 
sailors  on  the  gunboats  gave  a  cheer 

when  they  saw  the  soldiers  led  by  a  general  riding  an  old  horse  without  a 
saddle.  Protected  from  the  sharp-shooters,  the  gunboats  worked  their 
way  through  the  bayous,  and  once  more  reached  the  Mississippi  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Yazoo,  where  they  had  been  through  the  preceding  months. 
General  Banks,  in  December,  sailed  from  New  York  with  an  army  of 
more  than  thirty  thousand  men  for  New  Orleans  to  relieve  General  But 
ler,  and  to  operate  against  the  Confederates  in  Texas  and  Louisiana.  He 
was  to  co-operate  with  Admiral  Farragut  in  the  capture  of  Port  Hud 
son,  and  when  that  place  was  taken,  ascend  the  river  and  aid  in  capturing 
Yicksburg;  but  Port  Hudson  was  strongly  fortified,  and  had  not  been 
taken. 

The  repeated  failures  of  General  Grant  to  take  Vicksburg  and  open 
the  Mississippi  greatly  encouraged  the  Confederates.  Jefferson  Davis  vis 
ited  Yicksburg,  made  speeches  to  his  old  friends,  saying  that  it  was  a 


EXPERIMENT   BY   STEELE  S  BAYOU. 


IN   THE   SOUTH-WEST. 


57 


STEAMBOATS  IN   THE   WOODS. 
From  a  War-time  Sketch. 


Gibraltar,  and  could  not  be  taken.  The  Peace  Democrats  in  the  Northern 
States  gleefully  reiterated  the  statement.  They  said  that  the  Union  army 
and  gunboats  never  could  reopen  the  Mississippi.  Intermeddling  politi 
cians  went  to  Washington  to  induce  President  Lincoln  to  remove  Gen 
eral  Grant  and  appoint  General  McClernand,  or  some  other  man,  to  com 
mand  the  army. 


58  MARCHING   TO   VICTORY. 

"  I  rather  like  the  man,"  was  the  President's  calm  reply. 

General  Halleck  was  urging  General  Grant  to  do  something.  "  The- 
President  seems  to  be  rather  impatient  about  matters  on  the  Mississippi. 
Could  you  not  co-operate  with  Banks  against  Port  Hudson  ?"  he  wrote, 
April  2d.  Through  the  winter  General  Grant  had  been  doing  his  utmost. 
People  who  were  at  home,  with  all  the  comforts  of  life  around  them, 
little  knew  of  the  obstacles  in  his  way.  The  Confederate  batteries  and 
the  army  under  Pemberton,  at  Vicksburg,  were  not  the  chief  obstruc 
tions,  but  the  swamps,  arid  the  great  flood  pouring  out  from  all  the 
streams.  The  troops  at  Young's  Point,  on  the  bank  of  the  Mississippi, 
were  only  a  few  inches  out  of  water.  From  January  on  the  whole  region 
had  been  flooded.  The  troops  had  waded  through  swamps  by  day,  and 
slept  at  night  upon  the  water-soaked  earth.  The  one  object  which  Gen 
eral  Grant  had  in  view  was  to  gain  the  rear  of  Vicksburg  with  sufficient 
supplies  to  support  him  till  he  could  open  communications.  All  his 
efforts  had  resulted  in  failures.  General  Sherman  believed  that  the  best 
course  for  him  to  take  was  to  go  back  to  Memphis  with  the  whole  army, 
march  east  to  Corinth,  and  take  the  route  he  had  tried  in  1862,(2)  de 
pending  upon  the  railroad  for  food ;  but  General  Grant  remembered  the 
burning  of  his  supplies  at  Holly  Springs  ("Drum-beat  of  the  Nation," 
p.  452),  and  made  no  reply  to  the  letter  which  Sherman  had  written  ad 
vocating  the  movement. 

Again  General  Halleck  wrote  on  April  9th,  urging  him  to  do  some 
thing.  It  is  a  great  and  noble  character  which  can  maintain  its  calmness 
and  serenity  at  such  a  time.  He  was  confronted  by  a  large  army,  in  a 
position  so  strong  by  nature  that  it  was  regarded  as  impregnable.  He 
himself  had  been  turned  back  from  Holly  Springs.  General  Sherman  had 
been  repulsed  at  Chickasaw  bluffs.  The  war-ships  of  Farragut,  the  gun 
boats  of  Porter,  and  the  mortar-boats  had  rained  their  shells  upon  the  ene 
my's  batteries,  but  with  no  more  effect  than  gravel-stones  tossed  upon  the 
roof  of  a  house.  All  the  attempts  through  the  bayous  had  failed.  Sick 
ness  was  thinning  the  ranks.  Hospital  boats  were  transporting  hundreds 
of  soldiers  broken  down  by  malaria  to  Cairo.  The  graves  of  the  dead 
along  the  levee  at  Young's  Point  and  Milliken's  Bend  were  rapidly  multi 
plying.  Men  who  knew  nothing  of  the  obstacles  that  confronted  General 
Grant,  who  were  utterly  ignorant  of  military  affairs,  were  denouncing  him 
as  incompetent.  They  said  that  the  army  was  wasting  away ;  the  Missis 
sippi  was  swallowing  it ;  it  was  lost  in  the  swamp ;  nothing  would  be 
accomplished  under  such  a  commander.  The  newspapers  began  to  speak 
disparagingly.  General  Halleck  was  informing  him  that  the  President 


^s^s**-- 

,  "','•':• 


IN  THE   SOUTH-WEST.  6t 

was  impatient.  General  McClernand  wanted  to  be  commander,  and  his 
friends  were  at  work  to  secure  the  removal  of  Grant.  The  Copperheads 
were  plotting  against  him.  Through  all  the  trying  period,  no  word  in 
self-defence  fell  from  the  lips  of  the  man  whose  only  thought  was  how  to 
get  at  the  Confederate  army  holding  Yicksburg. 


NOTES  TO   CHAPTER  III. 

(')  Semmes,  "  Memoirs  of  Service  Afloat,"  p.  584. 

O  Badeau,  "Military  History  of  General  Grant,"  p.  180. 


MARCHING  TO  VICTORY. 


CHAPTER  IY. 

GETTING  IN   REAR  OF  VICKSBURG. 

ENERAL  GRANT  the  while  was  studying  the  map  which  the  engi- 
neers  had  made  for  him.  He  saw  that  the  Big  Black  River,  which 
rises  north-east  of  Yicksburg,  runs. south-west  and  empties  into  the  Missis 
sippi  twenty  miles  south  of  the  city  in  a  straight  line,  but  much  farther 
than  that  by  the  river.  General  Pemberton,  in  command  of  the  Confed 
erates  at  Yicksburg,  would  make  it  his  line  of  defence  in  rear.  He  saw 
that  there  was  also  a  net-work  of  lakes  and  streams  west  of  the  Missis 
sippi,  and  that  by  cutting  a  short  canal  from  Duck  Point,  opposite  the 
mouth  of  the  Yazoo,  to  Walnut  Bayou — a  small  stream  winding  through 
the  forest,  he  could  send  flat-boats'  loaded  with  supplies  by  a  roundabout 
way,  past  Yicksburg,  to  the  Mississippi,  opposite  the  mouth  of  the  Big 
Black.  The  gunboats  had  run  past  the  batteries  so  often  that  he  deter 
mined  to  send  down  transport  steamers.  The  army  could  march  to  a 
place  called  Hard  Times,  a  ha-mlet  opposite  the  mouth  of  the  Big  Black. 

On  April  13th  the  short  piece  of  canal  was  completed,  and  all  was 
ready  for  the  most  brilliant  strategic  movements  of  the  war.  Small  steam 
ers  worked  their  way  through  the  canal  into  the  bayous.  The  wood-chop 
pers  cut  away  the  trees.  Flat-boats  loaded  with  provisions  followed.  The 
army  picked  its  way  through  the  forest,  building  miles  of  corduroy  road 
for  the  artillery  and  wagons. 

At  ten  o'clock  on  the  night  of  April  16th,  Admiral  Porter,  on  the  flag 
ship  Benton,  gave  the  signal  and  moved  down  the  river.  The  Lafayette 
followed  with  the  Price  lashed  on  the  starboard  side  to  shield  her ;  then 
came  the  Louisville,  Mound  City,  Pittsburg,  and  Carondelet,  and  the  trans 
ports  Forest  Queen,  Silver  Wave,  and  Henry  Clay,  each  protected  by  cot 
ton  bales,  loaded  with  supplies  and  ammunition,  and  each  with  a  boat  in 
tow,  transporting  ten  thousand  bushels  of  coal.  The  Tuscumbia  brought 
up  the  rear. 

It  is  ten  minutes  to  eleven  when  the  Benton  rounds  the  point  above 
the  Confederate  batteries.  Instantly  the  Confederate  artillerymen  spring 


GETTING   IN  BEAR   OF  VICKSBURG.  65 

to  their  guns.  The  bluffs  are  a  sheet  of  flame.  The  Confederates  set  a 
block  of  houses  at  the  front  of  the  bluff  on  fire  to  light  up  the  river,  but 
at  two  o'clock  all  the  gunboats  and  all  but  one  of  the  transports  are  safely 
moored  at  Hard  Times.  The  transport  Henry  Clay  is  the  only  vessel  lost 
— set  on  fire  by  a  shell.  On  the  night  of  the  22d  five  more  river  steamers 
safely  passed  the  batteries. 

Just  below  the  mouth  of  the  Big  Black  is  Grand  Gulf — a  landing- 
place  on  the  east  side  of  the  river,  where  the  bluffs  rise  seventy-five  feet 
above  the  water,  and  where  the  Confederates  had  erected  a  line  of  bat 
teries.  In  the  upper  battery  were  two  seven-inch  rifled  guns,  one  eight- 
inch  smooth-bore,  and  a  30-pound  rifled  cannon.  Three-quarters  of  a  mile 
farther  down  were  one  eight-inch  smooth-bore,  two  32-pounders,  and  one 
100-pound  rifle  and  five  smaller  cannon. 

At  7  A.M.  on  the  morning  of  April  29th  the  gunboats  attacked  the  bat 
teries.  The  Confederates'  cannon  could  send  their  shot  and  shell  straight 
down  upon  the  boats,  which  suffered  so  much  that  at  one  o'clock  they 
withdrew.  General  Grant  saw  a  better  way. 

At  eight  o'clock  in  the  evening  the  gunboats  and  the  transports  ran 
past  these  batteries  and  came  to  anchor  four  miles  below.  While  this  was 
going  on  General  McClernand's  troops  were  marching  from  Hard  Times 
to  Mr.  De  Shroon's  plantation. 

At  daylight,  April  30th,  18,000  troops  were  drawn  up  in  long  lines  on 
the  bank  of  the  river.  The  steamboats  ran  out  their  planks,  the  regiments 
went  on  board,  and  at  noon  they  were  on  the  eastern  shore. 

General  Pemberton  was  greatly  perplexed.  He  had  more  than  60,000 
men,  but  they  were  widely  scattered.  At  Yicksburg  there  were  22,000 ; 
at  Port  Hudson,  16,000 ;  at  Grand  Gulf,  2500 ;  at  Fort  Pemberton,  on  the 
Yazoo,  more  than  one  hundred  miles  from  Yicksburg,  7000.  While  Gen 
eral  Grant  and  a  portion  of  the  gunboats  were  moving  down  the  river, 
General  Sherman  and  the  rest  of  the  fleet  (eight  gunboats)  were  threaten 
ing  to  attack  at  Haines's  Bluff,  on  the  Yazoo.  At  that  moment  a  cavalry 
force  under  General  Grierson  was  sweeping  south  the  whole  length  of  the 
State,  destroying  bridges  and  railroads. 

It  was  startling  news  which  came  to  Pemberton  over  the  wires  on  the 
evening  of  the  30th — that  a  great  body  of  Union  troops  had  crossed  the 
river  and  was  marching  north-east  from  the  plantation  of  Mr.  Bruin  tow 
ards  Port  Gibson,  on  the  south  side  of  the  Big  Black,  ten  miles  south-east 
of  Grand  Gulf.  He  saw  that  it  was  not  at  Haines's  Bluff,  north  of  Yicks 
burg,  but  that  south  and  east  of  the  city  was  the  great  danger.  Grant 
was  threatening  his  rear.  He  sent  telegrams  in  all  directions  for  troops  at 
5 


66  MARCHING   TO  VICTORY. 

Granada,  Columbus,  Meridian,  and  other  points,  to  hasten  to  Jackson,  the 
capital  of  the  State.  He  sent  Tracy's  and  Baldwin's  brigades  to  Port 
Gibson  to  join  General  Green  and  oppose  Grant's  advance. 

At  daylight,  May  1st,  General  Carr's  division  of  McClernand's  corps 
came  upon  the  Confederate  pickets  at  Magnolia  church,  three  miles  west 
of  Port  Gibson. 

The  Confederates  were  commanded  by  General  Bowen,  who  had  8500 
men,  and  who  posted  them  across  the  road  near  the  church,  in  a  strong 
position  on  uneven  ground,  with  a  can eb rake  in  front.  They  fought  stub 
bornly,  but  were  driven,  losing  60  killed,  340  wounded,  600  prisoners, 
and  a  battery.  The  battle  was  fought  by  McClernand's  corps.  General 
Bowen  retreated,  burning  the  bridge  over  the  south  fork  of  the  Bayou 
Pierre. 

The  Union  troops  pressed  on,  entered  Port  Gibson,  rebuilt  the  bridge, 
marched  eight  miles  to  the  north  fork,  found  the  bridge  there  on  fire, 
extinguished  the  flames,  put  in  new  timbers,  and  at  daybreak,  May  3d,  the 
army  was  moving  across  it. 

General  Pemberton  hurried  up  reinforcements,  swelling  the  Confed 
erate  force  to  17,000;  but  Bowen  saw  that  he  must  retreat,  still  farther. 
He  crossed  the  Big  Black  to  the  northern  bank  and  blew  up  the  batteries 
at  Grand  Gulf.  The  gunboats  took  possession  of  that  place,  and  Grant 
made  it  his  base  of  supplies. 

"  Join  me  as  quickly  as  possible,"  was  the  order  sent  April  29th  by 
Grant  to  Sherman,  who  was  at  Raines's  Bluff  on  the  Yazoo,  and  who  re 
ceived  it  the  next  morning. 

"  Take  up  your  line  of  march  for  Hard  Times,"  was  Sherman's  order 
to  General  Steele  and  General  Tuttle,  commanding  divisions  at  Milliken's 
Bend.  In  the  darkness  his  own  and  Blair's  divisions  moved  away  from 
before  Haines's  Bluff  to  Milliken's  Bend,  and  thence  began  their  march 
for  Hard  Times. 

"  Organize  a  train  of  one  hundred  and  twenty  wagons,"  was  Grant's 
order  to  Sherman. 

The  wagons  worked  their  way  through  the  woods  and  over  the  cordu- 
r<~»v  roads  to  Hard  Times,  and  were  ferried  across  the  river  to  Grand  Gulf. 
Sherman's  troops  crossed,  and  on  May  7th  the  whole  army  was  on  the 
east  bank  of  the  river. 

General  Grant  had  planned  a  campaign  which  must  be  carried  out 
with  great  energy.  He  proposed  not  to  march  directly  upon  Yicksburg, 
but  to  push  north-east  to  Jackson,  the  capital  of  Mississippi,  capture  it, 
destroy  the  railroad,  then  turn  about,  march  west,  cross  the  Big  Black, 


GETTING  IN  REAR  OF  VICKSBURG.  67 

and  drive  the  Confederates  from  Haines's  Bluff  and  open  communication 
with  the  Yazoo  River.  The  one  hundred  and  twenty  wagons  would  carry 
only  five  days'  rations.  When  those  were  gone  the  army  must  live  on 
whatever  corn  and  bacon  they  could  find  in  the  granaries  and  smoke 
houses  of  the  plantations. 

His  troops  were  the  Thirteenth  Corps  (McClernand),  Fifteenth  Corps 
(Sherman),  Seventeenth  Corps  (McPherson).  They  marched  north-east. 

At  daylight,  May  12th,  Logan's  division  of  McPherson's  corps  came 
upon  the  Confederate  pickets  at  Fourteen  Mile  Creek,  a  small  tributary 
of  the  Big  Black.  They  belonged  to  Gregg's  brigade,  which  had  come 
in  hot  haste  from  Port  Hudson  to  dispute  Grant's  advance  to  Jackson. 
Gregg  was  driven,  losing  more  than  five  hundred  men  and  two  cannon. 

A  railroad  runs  east  from  Yicksburg  to  Jackson,  crossing  the  Big 
Black  at  Bovina.  Edwards's  Station  is  the  first  east  of  the  Big  Black. 
The  town  of  Raymond  is  fourteen  miles  south-east  of  Edwards's  Station, 
and  the  same  distance  from  Jackson.  Clinton  is  the  first  station  on  the 
railroad  west  of  Jackson. 

"  Grant  cannot  live  long  for  want  of  provisions,"  was  the  message  sent 
by  Jefferson  Davis,  in  Richmond,  to  Pemberton. 

"  Proceed  at  once  to  Mississippi  and  take  chief  command  of  the  forces 
there,"  was  Davis's  message  to  Gen.  Joseph  E.  Johnston,  who  arrived  at 
Jackson  May  13th,  just  as  Gregg,  with  Walker's  brigade,  was  coming  into 
the  city  after  being  defeated  at  Raymond. 

"I  am  too  late,"  was  the  message  which  flew  over  the  wire  to  Rich 
mond  from  Johnston. 

"Yicksburg  must  be  held  at  all  hazards,"  was  the  despatch  to  Pem 
berton  from  Jefferson  Davis,  who  was  undertaking  to  direct  affairs.  Johns 
ton  had  laid  his  plans  to  concentrate  the  scattered  Confederate  troops, 
and  defeat  Grant  in  a  pitched  battle.  Pemberton  was  holding  Yicks 
burg,  and  had  his  army  scattered  along  the  Big  Black  at  the  several 
ferries. 

General  Grant  saw  that  he  must  act  with  great  energy,  move  east, 
wipe  out  the  forces  gathering  at  Jackson  under  Johnston,  then  turn  and 
confront  Pemberton,  cut  off  his  communications,  open  his  own,  and  pen 
him  up  in  Yicksburg. 

There  was  excitement  in  Richmond  and  also  in  Washington.  General 
Grant  had  not  informed  General  Halleck  of  his  plans,  but  had  exercised 
his  own  judgment  as  to  what  he  ought  to  do.  General  Halleck  was 
angry  at  what  he  regarded  as  rashness  and  disobedience  on  the  part  of 
General  Grant,  and  sent  a  despatch  ordering  him  to  turn  back,  go  down 


68  MARCHING  TO  VICTORY. 

the  river,  unite  his  forces  with  those  of  General  Banks,  and  attack  Port 
Hudson. 

Through  the  winter  and  spring  Grant  has  been  trying  to  get  at  Ticks- 
burg.  He  has  made  such  slow  progress  that  the  Confederates  have 
laughed  at  him.  It  has  never  occurred  to  them  that  he  might  sudden 
ly  abandon  the  attempt  to  get  in  at  the  front  door  and  make  his  ap 
pearance  with  a  loud  knocking  at  the  back  door.  But  there  he  is,  and 
whatever  is  done  to  stop  him  must  be  done  quickly  by  Pemberton  and 
Johnston. 

The  rain  is  pouring  on  the  morning  of  May  14th,  but  there  is  great 
activity  in  Jackson.  General  Johnston  is  loading  supplies,  ammunition, 
and  baggage  of  every  description  into  the  cars.  He  knows  that  Grant  is 
pushing  east  to  capture  the  city.  He  has  only  Gregg's  and  Walker's 
troops  to  oppose  him.  He  posts  Gregg  on  the  road  leading  to  Raymond, 
facing  west,  and  Walker  on  the  Clinton  road,  leading  north,  and  hopes  that 
they  will  be  able  to  hold  the  intrenchments  till  General  Maxey  arrives 
from  Port  Hudson  with  a  brigade,  and  Colonel  Gist  with  another  from 
South  Carolina,  which  will  give  him  eleven  thousand.  They  are  only 
twenty- four  hours  distant. 

Through  the  morning  the  Union  soldiers  stood  in  the  pelting  rain. 
They  could  not  handle  their  cartridges ;  but  at  noon  the  clouds  cleared, 
and  Sherman  advanced  against  Gregg,  and  McPherson  against  Walker. 

Crocker's  division  was  in  the  front  on  McPherson's  line,  Logan  in  his 
rear,  with  Stevenson's  brigade  on  the  left  to  flank  the  Confederates.  The 
conflict  began  in  a  thicket  a  mile  in  front  of  the  Confederate  breastworks 
Crocker's  men  quickly  cleared  the  woods. 

McPherson  waited  to  hear  from  Sherman.  Going  south-west,  we  se<* 
Sherman's  artillery  beginning  the  cannonade.  General  Johnston  acts 
with  admirable  prudence.  He  orders  the  Confederate  artillery  and  skir* 
mishers  to  keep  up  a  continuous  fire.  He  sees  that  he  cannot  resist 
the  combined  attack  of  McPherson  and  Sherman,  and  while  his  seven 
teen  cannon  are  flashing,  Walker  and  Gregg  are  hastening  northward. 
It  was  three  o'clock  before  Sherman  was  ready  to  advance.  When  his 
troops  moved  on  they  found  only  a  line  of  skirmishers  and  the  artil 
lerymen,  who  surrendered,  two  hundred  and  fifty  in  number,  with  ten 
cannon. 

Crocker's  division  at  the  same  time  rushed  across  the  open  field,  drove 
the  Confederates,  capturing  seven  guns  and  several  hundred  prisoners. 
With  drums  beating  and  colors  flying,  the  Union  troops  entered  the  city 
and  flung  out  the  Stars  and  Stripes  above  the  capital. 


GETTING   IN   REAR   OF   VICKSBURG. 


69 


A  cotton  warehouse  with  a  steam-engine  and  machinery,  which  Sher 
man  thought  might  be  of  value  to  the  Confederates  if  not  destroyed,  was 
set  on  fire  by  his  orders.  Soldiers  with  crow-bars  and  sledges  tore  up  the 
tracks  of  the  railroads.  There  were 
barrels  of  flour,  bacon,  and  ham  in 
the  warehouses  which  Johnston  had 
not  been  able  to  take  away,  and  the 
Union  soldiers,  who  had  had  little 
to  eat  since  crossing  the  Mississippi, 
satisfied  their  hunger  with  the  capt 
ured  food.  General  Grant  supposed 
that  Johnston  would  retreat  south 
ward,  but  he  was,  instead,  march 
ing  towards  Clinton,  northward,  hop 
ing  to  join  Pemberton.  He  did 
not  comprehend  the  meaning  of 

Grant's  movement ;  neither  did  Pemberton  understand  it.  General  Johns 
ton  had  ordered  Pemberton  to  march  north-eastward  towards  Clinton, 
hoping  thus  to  join  the  two  forces  and  make  an  army  large  enough  to  re 
sist  Grant.  Pemberton  called  a  council  of  his  officers.  They  were  di 
vided  in  opinion  as  to  what  ought  to  be  done.  He  decided  at  last  not  to 
march  to  join  Johnston,  but  to  attack  Grant's  rear,  not  seeing  that  what  on 
the  14th  was  the  rear,  on  the  15th  would  be  Grant's  front.  The  Union 
troops  were  no  longer  moving  east,  but  all  were  facing  west  —  Hovey's, 
Logan's,  and  Crocker's  divisions  at  Bolton  Station,  marching  along  the  rail 
road  ;  Osterhaus's  and  Carr's  di- 


GRANT  S    MOVEMENT   IN   REAR   OF  VICKS 
BURG. 


visions  on  the  Middle  road,  four 
miles  south ;  Blair's  and  A.  J. 
Smith's  divisions  on  the  Ray 
mond  road,  two  miles  farther 
south — all  moving  west  towards 
Baker's  Creek. 

General  Pemberton  had 
placed  his  army  in  position  east 
of  the  creek.     Suddenly  he 
changed  his  mind  and  decided, 
instead  of  attacking   Grant,  to 
obey    Johnston,   hasten    north 
east  and  join  his  superior.     He  did  not  realize  that,  while  his  troops  were 
scattered,  Grant  at  sunset  on  the  night  of  May  15th  had  thirty-two  thou- 


CHAMPION  HILL. 


70  MARCHING   TO   VICTORY. 

sand  men  at  hand.     Pemberton  had  eighty  regiments,  with  about  twenty- 
five  thousand  men. 

On  the  south  side  of  the  railroad,  half-way  between  Edwards's  and 
Bolton  stations,  was  the  plantation  of  Mr.  Champion,  on  a  hill  which  rises 
seventy-five  feet  above  the  surrounding  plain  and  extends  southward  more 
than  a  mile.  The  road  from  Clinton  running  west  winds  along  the  east 
ern  base,  joins  the  Middle  road,  which  runs  along  the  southern  slope,  and 
crosses  Baker's  Creek. 

It  was  nearly  eight  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  the  16th  of  May  when 
A.  J.  Smith's  division,  which  had  bivouacked  near  Mr.  Elliston's  house, 
moving  west  along  the  Raymond  road,  came  upon  Loring's  division  of 
Pemberton's  army.  Bowen's  .Confederate  division  was  next  in  line  tow 
ards  Champion's  Hill,  while  Stevenson's  division  was  at  the  foot  of  the 
hill,  near  the  junction  of  the  Clinton  and  Middle  roads.  Pemberton's 
troops  were  all  hastening  north  with  the  intention  of  joining  Johnston, 
"but  suddenly  found  that  they  must  fight  a  battle.  Hovey's  Union  divis 
ion  was  advancing  rapidly  towards  the  hill,  with  Logan  close  at  hand  and 
Crocker  not  far  behind.  At  ten  o'clock  there  was  a  rattling  fire  along  the 
picket  lines.  Both  armies  were  deploying — Hovey's  division  of  Grant's 
army  at  the  turn  of  the  road,  facing  west ;  Logan's,  moving  by  the  right 
flank,  holds  the  right  of  the  line,  his  men  facing  south. 

In  front  of  Logan  was  Barton's  Confederate  brigade ;  in  front  of  Ho- 
vey,  Lee's  and  Cummings's  brigades.  Hovey  began  the  attack,  his  left  flank 
pushing  up  the  hill,  advancing  step  by  step,  charging  upon  Cummings's 
brigade,  capturing  eleven  cannon. 

J.  E.  Smith's  and  another  brigade  of  Logan's  division  advanced  on 
Hovey's  right,  but  met  with  a  stubborn  resistance. 

General  Logan  halted  a  soldier  who  was  making  his  way  to  the  rear. 
"  The  rebels  are  awful  thick  up  there,  general,"  the  soldier  said. 

"  Then  that  is  the  place  to  shoot  them,"  was  the  answer. 

Logan  brought  up  his  reserve  brigade — Stevenson's.  We  are  not  to 
forget  that  the  Confederate  general  Stevenson  commanded  a  division,  while 
the  Union  general  Stevenson  commanded  a  brigade.  The  Union  Steven 
son's  men  rushed  across  a  ravine,  striking  the  Confederate  line  between 
Barton's  and  Lee's  brigades  and  captured  seven  guns. 

Things  had  gone  badly  with  the  Confederate  Stevenson,  but  help  was 
at  hand.  Bowen  arrived,  Cockrell's  brigade  in  advance,  with  Green's  be 
hind  it.  They  came  upon  Hovey's  flank,  forcing  the  Union  troops  down 
the  hill  and  back  through  Mr.  Champion's  fields,  compelling  them  to  aban 
don  all  but  two  of  the  eleven  cannon  captured. 


a;  O 

5F  2 

r»  W 

?  » 


GETTING  IN  REAR  OF   VICKSBURG.  73 

A  Confederate  soldier  gives  this  description  of  the  scene : 
"  One  of  the  charges  was  made  by  General  Green's  brigade  of  Missouri 
and  Arkansas  troops,  not  numbering  over  eleven  hundred  men.  They  ad 
vanced  with  the  utmost  coolness  upon  the  enemy's  forces,  consisting  of 
two  batteries  supported  by  another  division.  They  charged  up  to  within 
thirty  yards  of  the  artillery  when  the  Yankee  gunners,  who  -were  lying 
beside  their  pieces,  drew  the  strings  attached  to  the  friction  primers,  dis 
charging  their  guns,  and  poured  in  such  a  volley  of  canister  as  compelled 
our  men  to  fall  back."(') 

But  help  was  at  hand  for  Hovey — Crocker's  division.  Together  they 
advance,  driving  Cockrell  and  Green,  while  Cummings's  brigade,  which 
had  stood  resolutely  through  the  forenoon,  broke  and  fled  towards  Baker's 
Creek.  Bowen's  Confederate  division  held  its  ground  for  a  while,  but  was 
pushed  back,  leaving  five  of  the  guns  which  had  been  lost  in  the  begin 
ning,  then  recaptured,  while  Bowen  retreated  towards  Baker's  Creek,  and 
the  Union  troops  took  possession  of  the  hill. 

Going  south,  we  see  Loring  sending  Buford's  and  Featherston's  Con 
federate  brigades  north  to  assist  Bowen  and  Stevenson,  while  Tilghman's 
brigade  remains  to  hold  A.  J.  Smith's  and  Blair's  Union  divisions  in  check ; 
but  before  Loring  reaches  the  hill  Bowen  and  Stevenson  are  fleeing  tow 
ards  Baker's  Creek.  Loring  formed  his  two  brigades  across  the  road,  but 
Osterhaus  routed  him.  Tilghman  was  killed,  and  his  brigade  (with  Lor- 
ing's)  retreated  towards  a  ford  across  Baker's  Creek.  Before  the  Confed 
erates  could  reach  it  General  Carr's  division  pushed  on  and  took  possession 
of  the  road.  Loring  abandoned  all  his  cannon  and  wagons  and  hastened 
south  across  fields,  through  woods,  reaching  Crystal  Springs,  twenty-five 
miles  south  of  the  battle-field,  while  Bowen  and  Stevenson  made  their  way 
to  the  Big  Black  River. 

Pemberton  had  lost  twenty -four  cannon  and  nearly  four  thousand 
men.  As  he  rode  across  the  Big  Black  to  the  western  bank  he  said  to 
those  around  him,  "  I  call  upon  you,  gentlemen,  to  witness  that  I  am  not 
responsible  for  this  battle — I  am  but  obeying  the  orders  of  General  Johns 
ton.'^) 

Sunday  morning  dawned,  August  17th,  with  Bowen's  division  of  Con 
federates  behind  a  line  of  breastworks  which  had  been  thrown  up  on  the 
east  bank  of  Big  Black  River.  It  was  nearly  eight  o'clock  when  Carr's 
division  of  McClernand's  corps  came  through  a  piece  of  woods  on  the 
north  side  of  the  road  leading  to  the  river ;  Osterhaus's  and  A.  J.  Smith's 
divisions  were  south  of  the  road.  The  Confederate  artillery  opened  fire, 
and  the  Union  cannon  replied.  Through  the  morning  hours  the  cannon- 


MARCHING  TO   VICTORY. 


ade  went  on.  The  time  came  for  an  assault,  and  the  Union  troops  went 
forward  upon  the  run  —  in  solid  ranks,  brigade  following  brigade,  their 
bayonets  gleaming  in  the  sun. 

The  Confederate  troops,  disheartened  by  defeat,  worn  down  by  hard 
marching,  saw  that  they  were  in  danger  of  being  cut  off.  Yaughan's  bri 
gade  was  the  first  to  break,  then 
Bowen's  whole  division  was  in 
flight.  The  lines  dissolved,  and 
all  order  was  lost.  The  soldiers 
were  panic-stricken.  They  left 
eighteen  cannon  and  fourteen 
hundred  muskets;  seventeen 
hundred  and  fifty -seven  men 
gave  themselves  up  as  prison 
ers.  The  others  reached  the 
bridge,  set  it  on  fire,  and  fled 
in  consternation  towards  Vicks- 
burg. 

While  the  infantry  and  artil 
lery  under  General  Grant  were 
making  this  movement — which 
will  ever  be  regarded  as  a  mas 
terpiece  of  strategy  —  General 
Grierson,  with  a  brigade  of  cav 
alry,  was  marching  nearly  the 
entire  length  of  the  State. 

It  was  a  beautiful  spring 
morning,  the  17th  of  May.  The 
birds  were  singing,  the  air  was 
fragrant  with  opening  flowers, 
the  apple-orchards  were  white 
with  blooms.  A  brigade  of 
Union  cavalry  was  moving  out 
from  La  Grange,  fifty  miles 
south  -  east  of  Memphis  —  the 
Sixth  and  Seventh  Illinois,  Sec 
ond  Iowa,  and  Smith's  battery  of  artillery  (Company  K,  First  Illinois) — 
commanded  by  Colonel  Grierson,  who  had  submitted  a  plan  of  operations 
to  General  Grant.  He  had  conceived  the  idea  of  making  a  rapid  march, 
for  the  purpose  of  burning  railroad  bridges,  tearing  up  the  tracks,  destroy 


CLEARSPRING-  V 

STAR  WILLED 

A- 

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GKIEKSON'S  KAID. 


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nf  Q 

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GETTING  IN  REAR   OF  VICKSBURG.  77 

ing  trains,  and  committing  havoc  which  would  paralyze  the  Confederate 
operations.  If  he  could  destroy  the  bridges  it  would  prevent  General 
Johnston  from  sending  troops  and  supplies  to  Vicksburg  or  from  gather 
ing  a  Confederate  army. 

The  preparations  were  made  secretly.  The  Union  soldiers  did  not 
know  whither  they  were  going.  It  was  of  the  utmost  importance  that  no 
one  should  know  what  Colonel  Grierson  intended  to  accomplish.  He  left 
behind  all  broken-down  horses,  all  weak  soldiers,  took  no  provision  train. 
He  was  to  march  swiftly.  He  reached  the  Tallahatchie  River,  crossed  it 
near  New  Albany,  hastened  on  to  the  town  of  Pontotoc,  where  several 
hundred  bushels  of  salt  were  stored  belonging  to  the  Confederate  Govern 
ment,  also  a  quantity  of  ammunition.  The  salt  was  destroyed,  the  ammu 
nition  captured.  The  rapid  march  had  broken  down  a  large  number  of 
horses  and  several  men,  who  were  sent  back  to  La  Grange  with  one  of  the 
cannon.  Colonel  Grierson  had  fifteen  hundred  men  left.  Each  cavalry 
man  carried  eighty  rounds  of  ammunition. 

On  the  fifth  day  Colonel  Hatch,  with  the  Second  Iowa  and  one  can 
non,  turned  east  towards  Columbus  to  destroy  the  railroad  and  to  puzzle 
the  Confederates.  The  movement  would  lead  General  Johnston  to  think 
that  Grierson  was  intending  to  push  east  into  Alabama.  Colonel  Hatch 
intended,  after  destroying  the  railroad,  to  sweep  north-east  and  then  north 
west  back  to  La  Grange ;  but  a  Confederate  force  was  gathering  to  inter 
cept  him,  and  he  was  obliged  to  turn  south  and  rejoin  Grierson.  He  lost 
ten  men,  but  captured  three  hundred  rifles  and  two  hundred  horses. 

A  general  to  be  successful  must  plan  to  deceive  his  opponent.  Colo 
nel  Grierson  was  in  a  hostile  country,  did  not  know  the  roads,  was  igno 
rant  of  the  whereabouts  of  the  Confederate  forces,  except  that  Pember- 
ton  was  in  Yicksburg,  Gardner  at  Port  Hudson,  Bragg  in  Tennessee,  and 
Johnston  somewhere  in  Mississippi,  exercising  general  supervision  of  the 
Confederate  armies.  It  was  necessary  that  Grierson  should  have  a  body 
of  men  always  several  miles  in  front  or  on  his  flanks  to  pick  up  informa 
tion.  He  accordingly  organized  a  company  of  scouts — brave,  quick-witted 
men,  who  would  never  be  caught  napping,  and  who  would  always  have 
ready  a  question  or  an  answer.  He  armed  and  equipped  them  as  Confed 
erates,  obtained  butternut-colored  clothing  from  the  plantations,  and  sup 
plied  them  with  good  horses.  When  they  were  fully  equipped  the  mem 
bers  of  their  own  regiments  did  not  know  them.  They  had  signs  to  use 
in  the  daytime,  passwords  at  night.  They  visited  plantations,  pretending 
to  be  Confederate  soldiers,  and  were  royally  cared  for  by  the  planters, 
their  wives  and  daughters. 


78 


MARCHING   TO  VICTORY. 


"  Have  you  seen  any  Yankee  soldiers  ?"  they  asked. 

"  How  lately  have  any  Confederate  soldiers  been  here  ?" 

"  How  far  is  it  to  the  next  town  ?" 

"  What  roads  should  we  take  ?" 

Such  were  their  questions.  At  Starkville  Colonel  Grierson  found  a 
shoe-factory  which  was  manufacturing  thousands  of  shoes  for  the  Confed 
erate  Government,  also  a  hat-factory — both  of  which  were  destroyed.  He 
captured  a  Confederate  quartermaster  obtaining  shoes  for  the  army. 

. 


DESTROYING  THE  RAILROAD. 


The  rains  had  swollen  the  rivers,  and  a  great  flood  was  pouring  down 
the  Big  Black,  overflowing  its  banks.  But  Colonel  Grierson  was  not  to 
be  turned  back  by  high  waters.  He  obtained  a  boat,  in  which  the  ammu 
nition  was  carried  over.  The  river  was  too  deep  to  be  forded,  and  the 
men  swam  their  horses.  Some  were  swept  away  by  the  swift  current, 
others  went  far  down  stream,  and  were  obliged  to  pick  their  way  through 
swamps,  but  the  brigade  and  cannon  gained  the  southern  bank  at  last. 

The  scouts  captured  a  courier  who  was  carrying  despatches  from  Gen- 


GETTING  IN  REAR   OF   VICKSBURG.  81 

eral  Gardner,  commanding  the  Confederates  at  Port  Hudson,  to  General 
Pemberton  at  Yicksburg,  thus  giving  General  Grierson  important  infor 
mation.  The  country  was  well  supplied  with  corn  and  bacon,  and  the 
Union  soldiers  had  no  difficulty  in  obtaining  food. 

It  was  half-past  eight  o'clock  in  the  morning  when  the  scouts  reached 
the  town  of  Newton,  on  the  railroad  leading  east  from  Yicksburg. 

"  What  time  are  the  trains  due  ?"  they  asked  of  an  old  man  who  lived 
in  a  small  house  on  the  outskirts  of  the  village. 

"The  freight  -  train  from  the  east  ought  to  get  along  about  nine 
o'clock,"  the  reply.  "  There  is  the  whistle  now." 

The  scouts,  hearing  the  scream  of  the  locomotive  and  the  rumbling  of 
the  cars,  rode  into  the  town,  where  there  was  a  hospital  with  seventy-five 
Confederate  patients.  They  galloped  to  the  railroad-station,  leaped  from 
their  horses,  and  rushed  into  the  telegraph-office.  "  You  are  our  prisoner," 
they  said  to  the  operator.  They  cut  the  telegraph-wires,  and  no  more 
messages  could  be  sent  from  that  station  till  a  new  instrument  was  pro 
cured. 

u  The  Yanks  are  here !"  The  cry  came  from  the  hospital,  and  the 
astonished  patients  rose  from  their  sick-beds.  Those  who  were  nearly 
well  rushed  into  the  street. 

"  Go  back !"  was  the  stern  order  from  the  scouts,  who  levelled  their 
carbines,  ready  to  fire,  and  the  patients  obeyed. 

The  train  came  thundering  up  the  track  —  twenty-five  cars.  It  ran 
upon  a  side  track  to  meet  a  train  from  the  west.  A  moment  later  engi 
neer,  fireman,  and  brakeman  were  prisoners. 

Down  from  the  west  came  the  other  train  —  twelve  freight-cars  and 
one  passenger-car;  four  are  loaded  with  ammunition,  six  with  quarter 
master  stores,  two  with  goods  belonging  to  people  who  were  fleeing  from 
Yicksburg.  We  are  to  remember  that  General  Grant  had  not  yet  begun 
his  movement  eastward  from  Port  Gibson.  The  two  cars  containing  the 
household  goods  were  separated  from  the  others,  wood  was  heaped  around 
the  engines,  the  fires  were  kindled,  and  in  a  short  time  they  were  shape 
less  masses  of  iron.  At  eleven  o'clock  the  fire  reached  the  shells,  which 
exploded  in  volleys.  Colonel  Grierson  with  the  main  body  was  two  miles 
away.  He  heard  the  explosion,  and  came  up  on  the  gallop,  thinking  that 
a  fight  was  going  on.  -  He  sent  a  company  six  miles  east  to  burn  bridges, 
and  at  two  o'clock  was  moving  south  once  more. 

The  destruction  of  the  two  engines  and  thirty-five  cars  was  a  serious 
loss  to  the  Confederacy,  for  they  could  not  be  replaced.  Men  who  made 
engines  could  not  be  found  in  a  State  where  men  were  held  as  slaves. 


82  MARCHING  TO  VICTORY. 

On  May  1st  Colonel  Grierson  was  entering  Baton  Kouge,  in  Louisiana, 
where  there  was  a  body  of  Union  troops,  who  were  astonished  when  they 
saw  the  brigade  winding  into  town.  They  had  been  seventeen  days  on 
the  march,  destroyed  a  great  many  bridges,  torn  up  miles  of  track,  kindled 
fires,  bent  the  rails  so  that  they  could  not  be  used  again,  captured  one 
thousand  prisoners,  one  thousand  two  hundred  horses,  destroyed  more  than 
four  million  dollars'  worth  of  property  belonging  to  the  Confederacy,  but 
had  scrupulously  refrained  from  destroying  private  property.  By  his  raid 
Grierson  had  paralyzed  the  movements  of  the  troops  under  Johnston. 

We  are  to  remember  that  on  the  morning  of  May  1st,  while  Colo 
nel  Grierson  was  entering  Baton  Rouge,  the  troops  under  General  Grant 
were  leaving  the  Mississippi  below  Port  Gibson  to  begin  their  Yicksburg 
campaign. 

NOTES  TO   CHAPTER  IV. 

C1)  A.  S.  Abrarns,  "  Siege  of  Vicksburg,"  p.  27. 
(J)  Idem. 


THE  ATLANTIC   COAST.  83 


CHAPTER  Y. 

THE   ATLANTIC   COAST. 

WHEN"  the  Monitor  sent  the  Merrimac  from  Hampton  Roads  back 
to  Norfolk  with  the  water  pouring  in  through  her  seams,  the  world 
saw  that  the  days  of  the  old-time  ships— the  wooden  seventy-fours  and 
frigates — had  gone  by  never  to  return.  Orders  were  at  once  given  for  the 
construction  of  several  more  monitors,  also  of  an  iron-plated  ship,  to  be 
called  the  New  Ironsides.  From  the  day  when  the  Stars  and  Stripes  had 
been  lowered  at  Fort  Sumter  there  had  been  one  sentiment  uppermost  in 
the  minds  of  the  people  of  the  North,  one  fixed,  resolute  determination 
that  the  flag  should  wave  once  more  over  that  fortress — a  determination 
which  was  behind  the.  order  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy  for  the  con 
struction  of  the  new  turreted  war-vessels. 

A  few  days  later  and  there  was  great  activity  in  the  iron-mills.  Day 
and  night  the  forges  flamed.  Through  the  weeks  the  great  engines  never 
ceased  their  throbbing,  or  the  ponderous  steam-hammers  their  pounding, 
in  preparing  the  iron  plates  to  resist  the  solid  shot  which  would  be  hurled 
against  them  from  Sumter.  As  fast  as  completed  the  monitors  were  sent 
south  to  Port  Royal. 

Knowing  that  there  was  to  be  a  bombardment  of  that  fortress,  I  made 
my  way  thither  to  witness  it.  The  Montaulc  arrived  first,  steamed  down 
past  Savannah  River  to  the  Ogeechee  Sound,  and  opened  fire  upon  the 
Confederate  Fort  McAllister,  to  try  her  guns  and  machinery,  dismount 
ing  one  gun  in  the  fort,  killing  and  wounding  several  men,  remaining  four 
hours,  using  up  all  her  ammunition,  and  then,  the  tide  going  out,  steamed 
into  deeper  water  unharmed  by  the  eleven -inch  solid  shot  which  had 
struck  the  turret. 

There  was  an  exciting  scene  off  Charleston  on  the  morning  of  January 
30th.  The  Confederates  had  plated  two  steamers — the  Palmetto  State 
and  Chicora — with  railroad  iron.  The  vessels  had  been  strengthened  by 
timbers,  were  mounted  with  heavy  guns,  and  provided  with  iron  beaks 
which  were  to  be  thrust  through  the  sides  of  the  wooden  steamers  of  the 


84 


MARCHING   TO   VICTORY. 


blockading  fleet  off  the  bar,  con* 
sisting  of  nearly  a  dozen  vessels, 
and  which  were  keeping  such 
vigilant  watch  that  just  before 
daybreak  one  morning  they 
captured  the  English  steamer 
Princess  Royal,  from  Bermuda, 

with  a  very  valuable  cargo.  The  sailors  of  the  fleet  were  happy  over  the 
thought  that  they  would  have  a  portion  of  the  prize-money.  A  thin  haze 
was  hanging  over  the  water ;  the  faint  dawn  of  the  morning  was  on  the 
eastern  sky  when  the  sailors  on  the  Mercedita  beheld  the  Palmetto  State 
rushing  upon  them ;  and  at  the  same  instant  a  shell  crashed  into  the  ves- 


THE  ATLANTIC   COAST.  87 

sel,  and  through  the  boiler,  letting  out  the  steam  upon  the  unsuspecting 
crew,  and  the  next  moment  the  iron  beak  of  the  Confederate  craft  pierced 
the  side,  letting  in  a  torrent  of  water.  The  officer  in  command,  knowing 
that  his  vessel  is  helpless,  surrenders ;  but  the  Palmetto  State  cannot  stop 
to  take  the  crew  on  broad — it  has  more  important  work  in  hand,  and 
steams  with  the  Chicora  for  the  Keystone  State,  both  vessels  sending  shells 
through  her  sides.  The  Union  sailors  spring  to  their  guns,  the  engineer 
puts  on  steam,  and  the  Keystone  State  is  rushing  like  a  race-horse  towards 
the  Chicora  to  run  her  down,  when  a  shot  pierces  her  boiler,  and  she,  too, 
is  helpless.  The  whole  Union  fleet  is  in  motion — the  Memphis,  while  send 
ing  its  shot  against  the  Chicora,  throws  a  cable  to  the  Keystone  State  and 
takes  her  away  ;  the  Quaker  City,  the  Augusta,  the  Housatonic  are  at 
hand,  whereupon  the  two  Confederate  vessels  turn  about  and  make  for 
the  harbor,  anchoring  under  the  guns  of  Sumter  and  Moultrie.  More 
than  one -fourth  of  the  crew  of  the  Keystone  State  had  been  killed  by 
the  shells  or  scalded  by  the  escaping  steam.  The  Confederates  issued  a 
proclamation  that  every  one  of  the  vessels  of  the  Unio^i  fleet  had  been 
driven  away ;  that  the  blockade  had  been  raised.  The  British  and  French 
consuls  went  down  the  harbor  on  a  steamboat  furnished  them  by  General 
Beauregard,  looked  with  their  glasses,  but  did  not  see  any  of  the  vessels 
of  the  blockading  fleet.  General  Beauregard  published  their  statements, 
and  announced  that  the  blockade  had  been  raised.  It  was  telegraphed 
to  Richmond,  and  Jefferson  Davis  reannounced  it ;  but  the  next  morning 
there  were  twenty-four  war-vessels  off  Charleston  harbor  flying  the  Stars 
and  Stripes. 

If  the  blockade  had  been  really  broken,  sixty  days  must  have  elapsed 
before  it  could  be  re  -  established  under  the  international  law  ;  but  the 
merchants  of  other  countries  did  not  see  fit  to  send  any  vessels  openly  to 
Charleston.  The  blockade  had  not  been  broken,  and  the  vigilance  of  the 

'  O 

fleet  was  not  relaxed. 

The  steamer  Nashville,  owned  by  the  Confederates,  which  had  brought 
a  valuable  cargo  of  arms  from  England  to  Wilmington,  and  which  were 
used  by  the  Confederate  troops  in  the  battles  of  the  Peninsula  against 
McClellan,  at  Fair  Oaks,  and  Glendale,  had  been  cooped  up  in  Savannah 
several  months.  She  was  loaded  with  cotton,  carried  several  cannon,  and 
was  waiting  for  an  opportunity  to  slip  past  the  fleet  off  Savannah,  but  in 
attempting  to  do  so,  on  the  night  of  the  last  day  of  February,  ran  aground. 
Captain  Worden,  on  the  Montauk,  discovered  the  Nashville,  but  paying 
no  attention  to  the  fire  from  Fort  McAllister,  ran  up  so  near  that  he  could 
send  his  eleven-inch  shells  into  the  Confederate  vessel,  which  was  riddled 


88  MARCHING  TO   VICTORY. 

through  and  through,  set  on  fire,  and  blown  up  with  an  explosion  heard 
far  along  the  coast. 

Three  more  monitors — the  Passaic,  Patapsco,  and  Keok.uk — wished  to 
try  their  guns  on  Fort  McAllister  before  engaging  Sumter.  The  channel 
was  so  narrow  that  they  were  obliged  to  advance  in  single  file.  The  Pas- 
saic  was  foremost,  and  steamed  to  within  half  a  mile  of  the  fort.  I  saw 
the  bombardment,  which  lasted  eight  hours,  from  the  deck  of  a  small 
steamer.  The  shells  and  solid  shot  from  the  monitors  threw  up  clouds  of 
sand  from  the  embankments  of  the  fort,  while  the  solid  shot  from  the 
Confederate  guns  plunged  mostly  into  the  mud  and  water  around  the  ves 
sels  ;  but  now  and  then  there  came  a  sound  like  the  blow  of  a  great  tilt- 
hammer  in  an  iron-mill — the  crash  of  the  shot  against  the  iron  turrets, 
which  sustained  no  injury.  It  was  seen,  however,  that  it  took  so  long  to 
reload  the  guns  that  the  Confederates,  between  the  firing,  could  repair  in 
part  the  damage  done  to  the  fort. 

The  first  attack  on  Surnter  occurred  on  the  7th  of  April.  The  fort 
stood  out  in  bolc^relief,  the  bright  noon  sun  shining  full  upon  its  southern 
face,  fronting  the  shallow  water  towards  Morris  Island,  leaving  in  shadow 
its  eastern  wall  towards  Moultrie.  The  air  was  clear,  and  looking  inland 
with  my  glass,  I  could  see  the  city,  the  spires,  the  roofs  of  the  houses 
thronged  with  people.  A  three-masted  ship  lay  at  the  wharves,  the  Con 
federate  rams  were  fired  up,  sail-boats  were  scudding  across  the  harbor, 
running  down  towards  Sumter,  then  hastening  back  again,  like  restless 
little  children,  eager  for  something  to  be  done. 

The  attacking  fleet  was  in  the  main  ship-channel— eight  little  black 
specks  and  one  black  oblong  block,  the  New  Ironsides,  the  flag-ship  of  the 
fleet. 

The  monitors  were  about  one  third  of  a  mile  apart,  in  the  following 
order :  Weehawken,  Passaic,  Montauk,  Patapsco,  New  Ironsides,  Cdtskill, 
Nantuekei,  Nahant,  Keokuk. 

General  Hunter,  commanding  the  troops  at  Port  Royal,  had  courte 
ously  assigned  the  steamer  Nantucket  to  the  gentlemen  connected  with 
the  press,  to  go  where  they  pleased,  knowing  that  there  was  an  intense 
desire  not  only  in  the  North,  but  throughout  the  world,  to  know  the 
result  of  the  first  contest  between  iron-clads  and  fortifications.  It  was 
a  small  side -wheel  steamer  of  light  draft,  and  we  were  able  to  run  in 
and  out  over  the  bar  at  will.  Just  before  the  signal  was  given  for  the 
advance  we  ran  alongside  the  flag-ship.  The  sailors  were  hard  at  work 
hoisting  shot  and  shell  from  the  hold  to  the  deck.  The  upper  deck  was 
bedded  with  sand-bags,  the  pilot-house  wrapped  with  iron  cable.  All  the 


THE   ATLANTIC   COAST.  91 

light  hamper  was  taken  down  and  stowed  away,  the  iron  plating  slushed 
with  grease. 

It  was  past  one  o'clock  when  the  signal  for  sailing  was  displayed  from 
the  flag-ship,  and  the  Weehawken,  with  a  raft  at  her  prow,  intended  to 
remove  torpedoes,  answered  the  signal,  raised  her  anchor,  and  went  steadily 
in  with  the  tide,  followed  by  the  others.  There  were  no  clouds  of  canvas, 
no  beautiful  models  of  marine  architecture,  none  of  the  stateliness  and 
majesty  which  have  marked  hundreds  of  great  naval  engagements.  No 
human  beings  were  in  sight — no  propelling  power  visible. 

Straight  on  the  Weehawken  moves.  The  silence  is  prolonged — it  is 
almost  painful — the  calm  before  the  storm,  the  hushed  stillness  before  the 
burst  of  the  tornado  ! 

There  comes  a  single  puff  of  smoke  from  Moultrie — one  deep  reverber 
ation.  The  silence  is  broken — the  long  months  of  waiting  are  over.  The 
shot  flies  across  the  water,  skipping  from  wave  to  wave,  tossing  up  fount 
ains  of  spray,  hopping  over  the  deck  of  the  Weehawken,  and  rolling  along 
the  surface  with  a  diminishing  ricochet,  sinking  at  last  close  upon  the 
Morris  Island  beach.  Fort  Wagner,  on  Morris  Island,  continues  the 
story,  sending  a  shot  which  also  trips  lightly  over  the  deck,  and  tosses 
up  a  water-spout  far  towards  Moultrie.  The  Weehawken^  unmindful  of 
this  play,  opens  its  ports,  and  sends  a  fifteen -inch  solid  shot  towards 
Sumter,  which,  like  those  that  have  been  hurled  towards  her,  takes  a  half- 
dozen  steps,  making  for  a  moment  its  footprints  on  the  water,  and  crashes 
against  the  south-west  face  of  the  fort,  followed  a  moment  later  by  its 
eleven-inch  companion.  The  vessel  is  for  a  short  time  enveloped  in  the 
smoke  of  its  guns.  There  comes  an  answer.  Moultrie,  together  with  the 
batteries  east  of  it,  and  towards  the  inner  harbor,  bursts  in  an  instant  into 
sheets  of  flame  and  clouds  of  sulphurous  smoke.  There  is  one  long  roll 
of  thunder,  deep,  heavy  reverberations  and  sharp  concussions,  rattling  the 
windows  of  our  steamer.  Thus  far  Sumter  has  been  silent,  but  now  it 
is  enveloped  with  a  cloud — thick  folds  of  smoke  unrolling  like  fleeces 
of  wool  down  the  wall  to  the  water,  then  slowly  floating  away  to  mingle 
with  those  rising  from' the  batteries  along  the  shore  of  Sullivan's  Island. 
Then  comes  a  calm,  the  Confederate  gunners  wait  for  the  breeze  to 
clear  away  the  cloud,  that  they  may  obtain  a  view  of  the  monitor,  to 
see  if  it  has  not  been  punched  into  a  sieve,  and  is  disappearing  beneath 
the  waves.  But  the  Weehawken  is  there,  moving  straight  on  up  the 
channel.  To  her  it  has  been  only  a  handful  of  peas  or  pebbles.  Some 
have  rattled  against  her  turret,  some  upon  her  deck,  some  against  her 
sides.  Instead  of  going  to  the  bottom  she  revolves  her  turret  and  fires 


92  MARCHING  TO  VICTORY. 

two  shots  at  Moultrie,  moving  on  the  while  to  gain  the  south-eastern  wall 
of  Sumter. 

There  she  is — the  target  of  probably  two  hundred  and  fifty  or  three 
hundred  guns,  of  the  heaviest  calibre,  at  close  range,  rifled  cannon 
throwing  forged  bolts  and  steel -pointed  shot,  turned  and  polished  in 
the  lathes  of  English  workshops — advancing  still,  a  trial  unparalleled  in 
history ! 

For  fifteen  minutes  she  meets  the  ordeal  alone,  but  the  channel  found 
to  be  clear,  the  Passaic,  the  Montauk,  and  Patapsco  follow,  closing  up 
the  line,  each  coming  in  range  and  delivering  their  fire  upon  Sumter.  At 
twenty  minutes  past  three  the  four  monitors  composing  the  right  wing  of 
the  fleet  are  all  engaged,  each  pressing  on  to  reach  the  north-eastern  face  of 
the  fort,  where  the  wall  is  weakest,  each  receiving  as  they  arrive  at  particu 
lar  points  a  terrible  fire,  seemingly  from  all  points  of  the  compass — points 
selected  by  trial  and  practice,  indicated  by  buoys.  Seventy  guns  a  minute 
are  fired,  followed  by  a  prolonged  roar  of  thunder.  The  monitors  press 
on,  nearer  and  nearer  to  Sumter,  narrowing  the  distance  to  one  thousand, 
eight  hundred,  six,  five,  four  hundred  yards,  and  send  their  fifteen  -  inch 
shot  against  the  fort  with  deliberate,  effective  fire. 

At  first  the  fort  and  the  batteries  and  Moultrie  seem  to  redouble  their 
efforts,  but  after  an  hour  there  is  a  perceptible  diminution  of  the  dis 
charges  fron  Sumter.  I  can  see  the  increasing  pock-marks  and  discol- 
orations  upon  the  walls,  as  if  there  had  been  a  sudden  breaking  out  of 
cutaneous  disease. 

The  flag-ship,  drawing  seventeen  feet  of  water,  was  obliged  to  move 
cautiously,  feeling  her  way  up  the  channel.  Just  as  she  came  within 
range  of  Moultrie  her  keel  touched  bottom ;  fearing  that  she  would  run 
aground  the  anchor  was  let  go.  Finding  the  vessel  was  clear,  the  admiral 
again  moved  on,  signalling  the  left  wing  to  press  forward  to  the  aid  of  the 
four  already  engaged.  The  New  Ironsides  kept  the  main  channel,  which 
brought  her  within  about  one  thousand  yards  of  Moultrie  and  Sumter. 
She  fired  four  guns  at  Moultrie,  and  received  in  return  a  heavy  fire. 
Again  she  touched  bottom,  and  then  turned  her  bow  across  the  channel 
towards  Sumter,  firing  two  guns  at  Cumming's  Point.  After  this  weak 
and  ineffectual  effort,  the  tide  rapidly  ebbing  the  while,  she  again  got  clear, 
but  gave  up  the  attempt  to  advance.  The  CatskiH,  Nantucket,  Nahant, 
and  Keokuk  pressed  up  with  all  possible  speed  to  aid  the  other  monitors. 

The  Keokuk  was  different  in  construction  from  the  others — built  by  a 
wealthy  gentleman  who  had  agreed  that  the  crucial  test  for  the  acceptance 
of  the  vessel  by  the  Government  should  be  in  action. 


THE   ATLANTIC   COAST.  93 

She  presented  a  fair  mark  with  her  sloping  sides  and  double  turrets. 
Her  commander,  Captain  Rhind,  although  not  having  entire  confidence  in 
her  invulnerability,  was  determined  to  come  to  close  quarters.  He  was 
not  to  be  outdone  by  those  who  had  led  the  advance.  Swifter  than  they, 
drawing  less  water,  she  made  haste  to  get  up  with  the  Weehawken.  The 
guns  which  had  been  trained  upon  the  others  were  brought  to  bear  upon 
her.  Her  plating  was  as  pine  wood  to  the  steel  projectiles,  flying  with 
almost  the  swiftness  of  a  minie  -  bullet.  Shot  which  glanced  harmlessly 
from  the  others  penetrated  her  angled  sides.  Her  after-turret  was  pierced 
in  a  twinkling,  and  a  two-hundred  pound  projectile  dropped  inside.  A 
shot  crashed  into  the  surgeon's  dispensary.  The  sea  with  every  passing 
wave  swept  through  the  shot-holes,  and  she  was  forced  to  retire  or  go  to 
the  bottom  with  all  on  board. 

The  tide  was  ebbing  fast,  and  the  signal  for  withdrawal  was  displayed 
by  the  flag-ship.  It  was  raised,  seemingly,  at  an  inopportune  moment,  for 
the  firing  of  the  fort  had  sensibly  diminished,  while  that  from  the  moni 
tors  was  steady  and  true.  Never  had  there  been  such  a  hammering  of  iron 
and  smashing  of  masonry  as  during  the  two  and  a  half  hours  of  the  en 
gagement. 

We  ran  alongside  the  Keokuh.  A  glance  at  her  sides  showed  how  ter 
rible  the  fire  had  been.  Her  smoke-stack,  turrets,  sides — all  were  scarred, 
gashed,  pierced  through  and  through.  An  inspection  revealed 'ninety-four 
shot-marks.  There  were  none  below  the  water-line,  but  each  wave  swept 
through  the  holes  on  the  sides.  Only  three  of  her  officers  and  crew  were 
wounded,  although  she  had  been  so  badly  perforated. 

"  All  right,  nobody  seriously  hurt,  ready  for  them  again  !"  was  the 
hearty  response  of  Capt.  George  Rodgers,  of  the  CatskiU,  as  I  stepped 
upon  the  deck  of  that  vessel  and  grasped  the  hand  of  her  wide-awake  com 
mander.  The  vessel  had  received  about  thirty  shots.  One  200-pounder 
had  struck  the  deck,  bending  but  not  breaking  or  penetrating  the  iron. 
On  the  sides,  on  the  turret,  and  on  the  pilot-house  were  indentations  like 
saucers,  but  there  was  no  sign  of  serious  damage. 

Going  on  board  the  Nahant  we  found  that  eleven  of  her  officers  and 
crew  had  received  contusions  from  the  flying  of  bolt-heads  in  the  turret. 
One  shot  had  jammed  its  lower  ridge,  interfering  with  its  revolution.  She 
had  been  struck  forty  times,  but  the  armor  was  intact. 

The  other  monitors  had  each  a  few  bolts  started.  Four  gun-carriages 
needed  repairs — injured  not  by  the  enemy's  shot,  but  by  their  own  re 
coil.  One  shot  had  ripped  up  the  plating  of  the  Patapsco  and  pierced 
the  wood- work  beneath.  This  was  the  only  one,  out  of  the  twenty-five 


94:  MARCHING   TO   VICTORY. 

hundred  or  three  thousand  fired  from  the  forts,  which  penetrated  the  mon- 
itors  ! 

The  New  Ironsides  had  received  thirty  balls,  all  of  which  had  been 
turned  by  her  armor. 

One  hundred  and  fifty-three  shots  were  fired  by  the  fleet,  against  more 
than  twenty-five  hundred  by  the  Confederates.  The  monitors  were  struck 
in  the  aggregate  about  three  hundred  and  fifty  times. 

About  six  thousand  pounds  of  iron  were  hurled  at  Fort  Sumter  during 
the  short  time  the  fleet  was  engaged,  and  five  or  six  times  that  amount  of 
metal,  or  thirty  thousand  pounds,  thrown  at  the  fleet.  The  casualties  on 
board  the  fleet  were — none  killed  ;  one  mortally,  one  seriously,  and  thirteen 
slightly  wounded. 

It  is  now  known  that  the  Confederate  commander,  General  Ripley,  was 


THE   "NEW  IRONSIDES." 

on  the  point  of  evacuating  the  fort  when  the  signal  was  made  for  the  fleet 
to  withdraw,  for  the  wall  was  badly  shattered,  and  a  few  more  shots  would 
have  made  it  a  ruin. 

The  iron-clads  returned  to  Hilton  Head,  the  expedition  was  abandoned, 
and  Sumter  was  left  to  float  its  flag  in  defiance  of  Federal  authority. 

The  Proclamation  of  Emancipation  will  ever  be  regarded  as  a  great 
historic  event  in  the  history  of  our  country,  but  coincident  with  it  was 
another  of  great  moment — the  enlistment  of  the  slaves  as  soldiers  of  the 
republic.  A  few  men  from  the  beginning  had  seen  that  the  time  would 
probably  come  when  both  the  North  and  the  South  would  enlist  the  slaves 
in  some  form.  The  Confederacy  used  them  to  construct  the  batteries  on 
Morris  Island  for  the  bombardment  of  Sumter.  Thousands  had  been  em 
ployed  to  build  the  fortifications  around  Richmond,  at  Fort  Donelson, 


THE   ATLANTIC   COAST.  95 

Vicksburg,  and  Port  Hudson.  When  the  war  began  the  Confederates 
conceived  the  idea  of  enlisting,  not  slaves,  but  free  negroes,  and  a  recruit 
ing-office  was  opened  in  Memphis. Q  In  June,  1861,  Tennessee  'passed  a 
law  for  the  enlisting  of  free  negroes  to  do  menial  work  in  the  military  serv 
ice  of  the  State.  The  free  negroes  of  New  Orleans  —  fourteen  hundred 
of  them — were  organized  into  a  regiment.  The  New  Orleans  Picayune 
said  of  their  review  : 

"  We  must  pay  a  deserved  compliment  to  the  companies  of  free  colored 
men,  all  very  well  drilled  and  comfortably  uniformed.  Most  of  them,  un 
aided  by  the  administration,  have  supplied  themselves  with  arms,  without 
regard  to  cost  or  trouble."(2) 

A  few  weeks  later,  when  the  Hartford  and  other  vessels  of  Admiral 
Farragut's  fleet  appeared  at  New  Orleans,  the  regiment  of  free  negroes  in 
the  Confederate  service  disappeared  as  swiftly  as  the  dew-drops  before  the 
sun  on  a  summer  morning.  The  loss  of  Fort  Donelson,  the  battle  of 
Shiloh,  and  the  fall  of  New  Orleans  so  inflamed  the  editor  of  the  Confed 
eracy,  a  newspaper  published  in  Georgia,  that  he  said : 

"  We  must  fight  the  devil  with  fire,  by  arming  our  negroes  to  fight  the 
Yankees.  No  doubt  that  in  Georgia  alone  we  could  pick  up  ten  thousand 
negroes  that  would  rejoice  in  meeting  fifteen  thousand  Yankees  in  deadly 
conflict.  We  would  be  willing  almost  to  risk  the  fate  of  the  South  upon 
such  an  encounter  in  the  open  field."(3) 

Very  early  in  the  war  the  colored  people  of  Boston,  New  York,  and 
Philadelphia  declared  their  willingness  to  enlist  as  soldiers,  but  there  was 
a  very  great  prejudice  against  color  throughout  the  Northern  States.  The 
degrading  influence  of  slavery  had  so  permeated  society  that  negroes  were 
regarded  as  an  inferior  creation,  who  had  no  natural  rights  equal  to  those 
with  which  white  men  were  endowed.  It  would  be  degrading  to  the 
manhood  of  a  white  soldier  to  stand  in  the  ranks  with  a  negro  by  his 
side  ;  such  was  the  feeling. 

The  expedition  to  Port  Royal,  in  1861,  was  commanded  by  General 
Thomas  W.  Sherman,  who  received  authority  from  the  Adjutant-general 
of  the  United  States  to  "  employ  all  persons  offering  their  services  for  the 
defence  of  the  Union. "(4)  He  was  succeeded  in  command  by  General  David 
Hunter,  who,  in  May,  1862,  issued  orders  for  the  recruiting  of  the  First 
South  Carolina  Regiment  of  negroes.  The  action  of  General  Hunter  was 
condemned  by  a  very  large  proportion  of  the  newspapers  of  the  Northern 
States.  Mr.  Wickliffe,  of  Kentucky,  offered  a  resolution  in  Congress,  ask 
ing  for  information  from  the  Secretary  of  War,  if  a  regiment  of  black 
men,  fugitive  slaves,  had  been  organized ;  whether  the  War  Department 


96  MARCHING  TO  VICTORY. 

had  authorized  such  action,  and  if  the  negroes  had  been  furnished  with 
uniforms  and  arms.  The  Secretary  of  War  sent  the  resolution  to  General 
Hunter,  at  Port  Royal,  who  replied  that  no  regiment  of  "  fugitive  slaves  " 
had  been  organized,  but  a  fine  regiment  of  persons  had  been  collected, 
whose  late  masters  were  "  fugitive  rebels."  Thus  read  the  reply  : 

"  It  is  the  masters  who  have,  in  every  instance,  been  the  fugitives,  run 
ning  away  from  loyal  slaves  as  well  as  loyal  soldiers,  and  whom  we  have 
only  been  able  partially  to  see — chiefly  their  heads  over  ramparts,  or,  rifle 
in  hand,  dodging  behind  trees  in  the  extreme  distance.  In  the  absence 
of  any  '  fugitive  master  laws '  the  deserted  slaves  would  be  wholly  with 
out  remedy,  had  not  the  crime  of  treason  given  them  the  right  to  pursue, 
capture,  and  bring  back  those  persons  of  whom  they  had  been  suddenly 
bereft."(5) 

The  letter  of  General  Hunter  was  read  everywhere  through  the 
Northern  States,  and  gave  great  satisfaction  to  those  who  wished  to  see 
the  negroes  marshalled  under  the  Stars  and  Stripes.  General  Hunter  gave 
freedom  papers  to  all  the  members  of  the  regiment. 

General  Phelps,  of  Vermont,  was  in  Louisiana,  and  said  to  General 
Butler,  in  command  there,  that  fifty  regiments  of  negroes  could  be  enlist 
ed,  but  was  informed  by  that  officer  that  he  was  to  use  the  negro  as  a  la 
borer,  not  as  a  soldier. 

"  I  am  not  willing  to  become  the  mere  slave-driver  you  propose,  hav 
ing  no  qualification  that  way,"  was  the  reply  from  General  Phelps,  who 
sent  in  his  resignation. 

A  governor  of  a  State  had  a  right  to  enlist  negroes,  and  on  August  4th, 
1862,  Governor  Sprague,  of  Rhode  Island,  appealed  to  the  negroes  of  that 
State  to  enlist.  The  tide  was  rising,  and  in  August  General  Butler  issued 
an  appeal  to  the  free  negroes  of  New  Orleans — those  who  had  formed  the 
regiment  under  the  Confederates,  who  were  mustered  into  the  service  of 
the  United  States — and  on  the  same  day  President  Lincoln  authorized  the 
enlistment  of  negroes  in  South  Carolina,  making  no  distinction  as  to  con 
dition,  whether  free  or  slave. 

The  enlistment  of  negroes  who  had  been  slaves  gave  offence  to  the 
Democratic  party,  and  to  some  of  the  officers  in  the  army,  who  regarded 
the  negro  as  an  inferior  being.  They  said  that  the  slaves  would  murder 
their  masters  and  families.  •  These  were  the  words  of  the  London  Times : 

"  It  means  ten  thousand  domestic  tragedies,  in  which  women  and  chil 
dren  will  be  the  victims."(6) 

I  visited  Beaufort,  South  Carolina,  and  the  sea  islands,  from  which  the 
planters  had  all  fled,  leaving  their  slaves  behind.  Colonel  T.  W.  Higgin- 


THE   ATLANTIC    COAST. 


97 


son,  of  Boston,  gathered  anew  the  members  of  the  First  South  Carolina 
Regiment  on  a  plantation  near  Beaufort,  which  before  the  war  was  the 
summer  home  of  the  rich  slave-holders  of  South  Carolina,  whose  stately 
mansions  looked  down  the  beautiful  bay — occupied  now  by  their  former 
slaves,  who  had  deserted  their  little  cabins  and  were  making  themselves  at 
home  in  the  parlors  and  bedchambers  of  those  who  had  brought  about  the 
war.  I  rode  out  to  the  camp  of  the  First  South  Carolina  loyal  troops 
through  old  cotton-fields,  beneath  oaks  with  wide-spreading  branches,  over- 


DESERTED   NEGRO   CABINS. 


laden  with  jasmine  and  honeysuckle,  and  along  an  avenue  bordered  by 
magnolias  in  bloom,  filling  the  air  with  fragrance,  beneath  trees  from 
whose  branches  drooped  festoons  of  dark-gray  moss,  which  waveol  mourn 
fully  in  the  breeze. 

The  regiment  was  encamped  on  a  plantation  owned  by  a  man  who  had 
been  a  cruel  master,  who  used  to  tie  up  his  slaves  by  the  thumbs,  their 
arms  stretched  high  above  their  heads,  their  toes  just  touching  the  ground. 
7 


98  MARCHING   TO    VICTORY. 

I  saw  the  staples  in  the  trunk  of  a  tree,  the  rings  through  which  the  ropes 
were  drawn  which  held  them  to  the  whipping-post.  Near  by  was  a  little 
chapel,  with  a  bell  in  the  belfry.  The  master  and  mistress  had  been  re 
ligious.  Every  Sunday  morning  the  bell  called  the  slaves  to  church,  to 
listen  to  the  gospel  of  love,  peace,  and  good-will  from  a  fellow-slave.  The 
master  and  mistress  were  accustomed  to  say  their  prayers  in  Beaufort ; 
(but  on  the  morning  when  Admiral  Dupont's  guns  were  heard  at  Port 
i Royal  they  suddenly  departed,  leaving  all  behind.  The  whipping  was 
|ended,  the  slaves  were  free,  and  the  able-bodied  of  them  were  wearing  the 
"uniform  of  the  Army  of  the  Republic,  with  the  Stars  and  Stripes  waving 
over  them,  ready  to  show  their  gratitude  to  President  Lincoln  and  their 
loyalty  to  the  Union. 

So  intense  was  the  prejudice  on  the  part  of  some  of  the  officers  against 
the  negro,  that  General  Hunter  was  obliged  to  arrest  one  of  his  brigadier- 
generals,  who  said  that  he  would  rather  be  defeated  in  battle  than  co 
operate  with  negro  troops. (7)  The  enlistment  of  the  former  slaves  was  a 
turning-point  in  the  history  of  the  war,  and  in  the  history  of  our  country, 
which  will  be  manifest  as  the  story  of  the  struggle  unfolds. 


NOTES  TO   CHAPTER  V. 

(1)  Williams,  "A  History  of  Negro  Troops  in  the  War  of  the  Rebellion,"  p.  80. 

(2)  New  Orleans  Picayune,  Feb.  9,  1862. 

(3)  "Rebellion  Record,"  vol.  v.,  p.  22. 

(4)  Greeley,  "American  Conflict,"  vol.  ii.,  p.  251. 

(•)  Executive  Document,  37th  Congress,  2d  S.,  No.  143. 
(6)  London  Times,  Feb.  6,  1863. 
f)  Hunter's  Special  Order,  No.  86. 


IN  VIRGINIA.  99 


CHAPTEE  VI. 

IN  VIRGINIA. 

rT^HE  Army  of  the  Potomac  was  on  the  Falmouth  hills,  opposite  Fred- 
-*-  ericksburg,  housed  in  huts.  All  the  surrounding  forests  had  disap 
peared,  built  into  huts,  with  chimneys  of  sticks  and  mud,  or  burned  in  the 
stone  fireplaces  constructed  by  the  soldiers,  who  also  built  mud  ovens,  and 
baked  their  beans  and  bread.  The  winter  was  severe,  the  snow  deep. 
The  soldiers  were  discouraged.  They  knew  that  they  had  fought  brave 
ly,  but  that  there  had  been  mismanagement  and  inefficient  generalship. 
Homesickness  set  in  and  became  a  disease.  General  Burnside  planned  a 
movement  up  the  river  to  United  States  Ford.  He  thought  that  by  a 
rapid  march  he  could  cross  the  Rappahannock  at  that  point,  and  gain  a 
position  where  General  Lee  would  not  have  the  advantage  of  any  strong 
fortifications. 

On  January  20th  the  army  moved,  but  suddenly  rain  began  to  fall,  and 
before  night  the  artillery  and  wagons  were  hub-deep  in  the  mud.  Teams 
were  doubled;  the  drivers  whipped  their  horses  and  used  a  great  many 
bad  words  ;  the  horses  tugged  in  vain ;  the  soldiers  sank  to  their  knees. 
All  day  long  the  rain  poured  in  torrents,  and  beat  pitilessly  upon  them.  At 
night  they  lay  down  upon  the  damp  ground,  with  the  cold  storm  drenching 
them.  For  two  days  they  struggled  through  the  mud,  and  then  made  their 
way  back  to  the  log-huts,  to  be  laughed  at  by  the  Confederate  pickets  on 
the  other  side  of  the  river.  The  soldiers  called  it  the  mud  campaign. 

Some  of  the  officers  were  greatly  dissatisfied  with  General  Burnside. 
They  said  that  he  was  not  competent  to  command  a  great  army.  When 
the  command  was  offered  him  by  President  Lincoln,  General  Burnside 
distrusted  his  own  ability.  The  soldiers  had  little  confidence  in  his 
judgment,  but  did  not  doubt  his  loyalty.  His  repeated  failures  brought 
despondency  in  the  army  and  throughout  the  North.  Soldiers  deserted— 
not  to  the  Confederates,  but  made  their  way  to  Washington,  and  thence 
to  their  homes.  Mothers  and  sisters  and  wives,  who  longed  to  see  them 
once  more,  sent  them  suits  of  clothing  so  that  they  could  get  away. 


100  MARCHING   TO    VICTORY. 

General  Burnside  saw  that  with  the  disaffection  among  the  officers  he 
could  not  hope  to  accomplish  anything.  Besides,  there  were  spies  every 
where.  It  never,  probably,  will  be  known  just  who  they  were,  but  they 
were  in  the  army,  in  Washington,  in  the  streets,  the  hotels,  the  Depart 
ments,  and  in  the  telegraph-offices.  It  was  discovered  that  all  orders  were 
known  to  the  Confederates  in  a  few  hours  after  their  delivery.  General 
Burnside  asked  the  President  to  accept  his  resignation  as  major-general, 
which  Mr.  Lincoln  would  not  do.  The  President  remembered  his  faith 
ful  service  in  North  Carolina,  but  he  relieved  him  of  the  command  of 
the  army,  and  appointed  General  Hooker  to  succeed  him,  transferring 
General  Burnside,  with  the  Ninth  Corps,  to  the  Department  of  the 
Ohio. 

How  should  General  Hooker  cure  homesickness  which  had  become  a 
disease  ?  Officers  and  men  alike  had  an  intense  longing  for  home. 

When  he  took  command  of  the  army,  desertions  were  at  the  rate  of 
two  hundred  a  day.  Two  thousand  nine  hundred  and  twenty-two  officers 
and  eighty  -  two  thousand  men  were  reported  absent,  with  or  without 
leave !  It  was  in  itself  a  great  army.  We  are  not  to  think  that  they 
were  all  deserters.  By  far  the  larger  number  were  absent  on  leave,  but, 
once  at  home,  had  not  returned. 

"  What  word  of  encouragement  can  you  give  us  ?"  asked  a  company  of 
ladies  of  President  Lincoln. 

"  I  have  no  word  of  encouragement  for  you,"  he  said.  "  The  military 
situation  is  far  from  bright,  and  the  country  knows  it.  The  fact  is,  the 
people  have  not  yet  made  up  their  minds  that  we  are  at  war.  They  have 
not  buckled  down  to  the  determination  to  fight  this  war  through.  They 
have  got  it  into  their  heads  that  they  are  going  to  get  out  of  this  fix, 
somehow,  by  strategy.  That  is  the  word — strategy.  They  have  no  idea 
that  the  war  is  going  to  be  carried  on  by  hard  fighting ;  and  no  headway 
will  be  made  while  this  state  of  mind  lasts. 

"  There  are  regiments  that  have  two-thirds  of  the  men  absent — a  great 
many  by  desertion,  and  a  great  many  more  on  leave  granted  by  company 
officers,  which  is  almost  as  bad.  There  is  a  constant  call  for  more  troops, 
and  they  are  sent  forward.  To  fill  up  the  army  is  like  undertaking  to 
shovel  fleas  ;  you  take  up  a  shovelful,  but  before  you  can  dump  them  any 
where  they  are  gone." 

"  Isn't  death  the  penalty  of  desertion  ?"  asked  a  lady. 

"  Yes." 

"  Why  not  enforce  it,  then  ?" 

"  Oh  no,  you  can't  do  that !  you  can't  shoot  men  by  the  hundred  for 


IN  VIRGINIA.  103 

deserting.  The  country  would  not  stand  it ;  it  ought  not  to  stand  it.  It 
would  be  barbarous.  We  must  change  the  condition  of  things  in  some 
other  way." 

They  were  plain  words.  General  McClellan  had  talked  about  strategy 
and  strategic  movements,  and  the  people  somehow  thought  that  by  some 
great,  brilliant  movement — by  getting  on  the  flank  or  the  rear  of  the  Con 
federate  army — General  Lee  might  be  manoeuvred  out  of  Fredericksburg, 
and  finally  out  of  Richmond,  and  that  would  be  the  end  of  the  rebellion. 
President  Lincoln  knew  better.  General  Hooker  saw  that  the  first  thing 
to  be  done  wras  to  cure  the  homesickness.  The  surgeons  and  physicians 
had  no  medicine  in  their  chests  to  cure  the  disease.  A  sight  of  home,  a 
look  into  the  faces  of  loved  ones,  a  clasp  of  the  hand,  the  kiss,  the  wel 
come  of  father,  mother,  wife,  or  sister  was  the  only  medicine. 

Although  so  many  were  absent,  the  first  order  which  General  Hooker 
issued  provided  that  one  brigade  commander,  one  field-officer,  two  line- 
officers  of  a  regiment,  and  two  men  out  of  every  hundred  might  be  absent 
at  one  time,  not  exceeding  ten  days  to  the  near  States  and  fifteen  days  for 
States  farther  away. 

"You  have  ruined  the  army.  They  will  go  from  Dan  to  Beersheba. 
You  never  will  get  them  back  again,"  was  the  despatch  telegraphed  by 
President  Lincoln  when  he  heard  of  it. 

"  Let  me  try  it  for  three  weeks,"  replied  General  Hooker. 

The  President  consented.  The  soldiers  were  informed  that  if  they  did 
not  return  on  the  day  fixed  they  would  be  court-martialed.  If  they  did 
not  return,  their  regiment  could  have  no  more  furloughs.  It  touched 
their  honor.  If  they  did  not  return,  none  of  their  comrades  could  go 
home.  Officers  had  been  running  up  to  Washington.  The  hotels  were 
full  of  those  who  ought  to  have  been  at  Falmouth. 

"  Officers  visiting  Washington  without  permission  will  be  dismissed 
the  service,"  was  the  order  of  the  War  Department. 

During  the  bright  winter  days  the  soldiers  went  through  their  drills 
and  manoeuvres.  The  bands  played  stirring  tunes.  The  inspector  kept 
close  watch  of  their  arms  and  equipments  and  clothing.  The  surgeons 
were  careful  of  the  health  of  the  army.  The  men  on  furlough  returned 
with  bright  faces.  Stragglers  were  brought  back  to  their  regiments. 
The  army,  instead  of  dwindling,  became  larger  day  by  day.  Homesick 
ness  disappeared.  Wherever  General  Hooker  rode  he  was  welcomed  with 
a  cheer. 

Stragglers  in  an  army,  when  asked  what  division,  brigade,  or  regiment 
they  belonged  to,  usually  gave  a  false  answer.  To  correct  the  evil  Gen- 


104  MARCHING  TO   VICTORY. 

eral  Hooker  devised  a  system  of  badges  by  which  stragglers  could  be  de 
tected,  and  which  enabled  soldiers  when  on  the  march  or  in  the  battle  to 
see  where  their  brigade,  division,  and  corps  were.  The  division  badges 
were  red  for  the  First  Division,  white  for  the  Second,  blue  for  the  Third. 
The  badge  of  the  First  Corps  was  a  sphere ;  of  the  Second,  a  clover-leaf ; 
the  Third,  a  lozenge ;  Fifth,  a  Maltese  cross ;  Sixth,  a  cross ;  Eleventh,  a 
crescent ;  Twelfth,  a  star.  It  was  a  device  of  much  value,  for  a  great 
army  when  on  the  march  becomes  more  or  less  confused.  Before  their 
adoption,  soldiers  who  dropped  out  of  the  line  had  great  difficulty  in  find 
ing  their  regiments ;  but  with  badges  on  coats,  flags,  and  wagons,  every 
soldier  could  soon  find  his  regiment. 

The  cavalry  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  had  been  of  little  account. 
General  Hooker  saw,  and  the  Government  saw,  that  the  cavalry  must  be 
increased  ;  that  men  on  horseback  are  the  "  eyes  of  the  army,"  seeing  what 
the  enemy  is  doing  or  about  to  do.  New  regiments  were  organized,  the 
horses  exercised,  and  the  men  drilled. 

General  Averill,  commanding  a  division,  was  encamped  at  Hartwood 
Church.  There  came  a  day  when  Fitz-Hugh  Lee,  commanding  a  Con 
federate  division  of  cavalry,  appeared  suddenly  north  of  the  river  and  fell 
upon  the  Third  Pennsylvania  Cavalry,  which  was  out  on  picket — Gen 
eral  Averill's  own  regiment.  In  the  skirmish  eighty  Union  men  were 
killed,  wounded,  and  taken  prisoners,  while  of  the  Confederates  twenty 
were  killed  and  wounded,  and  forty  prisoners  taken.  The  two  command 
ers  had  been  classmates  at  West  Point.  When  the  Confederates  retreated 
Fitz-Hugh  Lee  left  a  surgeon  with  his  wounded  and  a  note  to  General 
Averill.  Thus  it  read  : 

"  MY  DEAR  AVEKILL,---!  wish  you  would  put  up  your  sword  and  leave 
my  State  and  go  home.  You  ride  a  good  horse ;  I  ride  a  better.  Yours 
can  beat  mine  running.  Send  me  over  a  bag  of  coffee.  Friz." 

There  was  a  taunt  and  a  challenge  in  the  note. 

"  I  would  like  an  opportunity  to  cross  the  river  and  try  swords  with 
the  Confederates,"  said  General  Averill  to  General  Hooker. 

"  You  shall  have  the  opportunity." 

Early  in  the  morning  of  March  17th  the  bugle  sounded  the  call,  and 
the  Union  cavalrymen  leaped  into  their  saddles.  There  were  five  regi 
ments  in  the  division.  The  First  Brigade  was  commanded  by  Colonel 
Mclntosh — the  Third  and  Sixteenth  Pennsylvania,  two  squadrons  of  the 
Fourth  Pennsylvania,  and  the  Sixth  New  York  Battery. 

The  Second  Brigade  was  commanded  by  Colonel  Duffie — the  First 


IN  VIRGINIA. 


107 


Khode  Island,  Fourth  New  York,  and  Sixth  Ohio.  There  were  detach 
ments  from  the  First  and  Fifth  United  States  Kegulars.  At  daylight  the 
division  was  on  its  way  towards  Kelley's  Ford.  They  found  the  road 


GENERAL   HOOKER. 


leading  to  the  river  blocked  with  fallen  trees,  but  the  pioneers  cleared  the 
way  with  their  axes,  the  Fourth  New  York  keeping  up  at  the  same  time 
a  lively  fire  upon  the  Confederates  on  the  other  bank. 

The   Fourth  Rhode  Island  charged  to  the   bank   of  the   river,  to   be 


108  MARCHING  TO  VICTORY. 

forced  back,  but,  rallying  with  a  cheer,  driving  their  spurs  into  the  flanks 
of  their  horses,  they  went  across  the  stream,  up  the  other  bank,  and  capt 
ured  the  astonished  Confederates,  who  had  dismounted,  and  were  firing 
their  carbines  from  an  old  mill-race. 

The  water  was  so  deep  in  the  river  that  it  came  into  the  caissons,  and 
the  cannon  cartridges  had  to  be  taken  out,  put  in  the  nose-bags  of  the 
horses,  and  thus  carried  to  the  southern  shore. 

The  bugles  sounded,  and  the  division  moved  slowly  on  in  order  of  bat 
tle  ;  for  not  far  away  was  the  whole  of  Fitz-Hugh  Lee's  command — the 
First,  Second,  Third,  Fourth,  and  Fifth  Virginia  —  soldiers  who  prided 
themselves  on  being  fearless  riders,  and  who  had  formed  in  line  of  battle, 
and  were  advancing.  General  Averill  halted  in  a  belt  of  woods  border 
ing  a  field.  Fitz-Hugh  Lee  did  the  same  upon  the  opposite  side  of  the 
field.  The  lines  were  straightened,  and  both  came  out  into  the  cleared 
land.  General  Lee  made  a  movement  to  turn  Averill's  right,  but  was 
stopped  by  the  artillery.  He  moved  to  charge  the  left,  but  was  met  by 
Duffle's  brigade  and  driven.  Lee's  whole  line  fell  back,  followed  by  Av 
erill.  Again  the  Confederates  advanced,  but  again  were  turned  back  by 
the  Third  Pennsylvania  and  Fifth  Eegulars.  When  the  Confederates 
retreated  the  Union  troops  poured  in  a  volley.  Men  rolled  from  their 
saddles,  and  their  horses  ran  wildly  over  the  field. 

The  sun  was  going  down.  General  Averill  had  accomplished  what  he 
came  for — a  disciplining  of  his  men  in  battle.  He  had  paid  his  compli 
ments  to  his  old  classmate,  and  gave  orders  to  recross  the  river,  which  was 
rapidly  rising  from  rains  in  the  mountains. 

Many  of  the  men  were  badly  wounded,  but  he  made  them  comfortable, 
left  a  surgeon  in  charge  of  them  and  a  bag  of  coffee,  with  this  note  to 
his  old  classmate  : 

"DEAR  FITZ, — Here's  your  coffee.  Here's  your  visit.  How  do  you 
like  it  ?  How's  that  horse  ?  A  ^  " 

These  men  were  old-time  friends.  War  had  not  made  them  personal 
enemies.  They  were  fighting  for  great  principles — one  for  the  Confed 
eracy,  the  other  for  the  Union.  Averill  returned  well  satisfied  with  the 
behavior  of  the  troops.  It  was  the  first  real  cavalry  battle  of  the  Army 
of  the  Potomac. 

While  General  Hooker  was  getting  the  Union  army  under  discipline  and 
curing  the  homesickness,  General  Lee  was  filling  up  his  army  with  new 
conscripts.  The  Confederate  Government  did  not  organize  new  regiments, 


IN  VIRGINIA.  109 

but  put  new  men  into  the  ranks  with  soldiers  who  had  been  in  a  score  of 
battles.  The  new  men  soon  became  as  brave  and  steady  as  they.  It  was 
a  much  better  plan  than  that  adopted  by  the  Union  Government — the 
raising  of  new  regiments. 

Day  and  night  the  Tredegar  Ironworks  at  Eichrnond  were  blazing- 
casting  cannon,  shot,  and  shell.  Carpenters  were  making  cannon -car 
riages.  Every  steamer  running  the  blockade  into  Wilmington  or  Charles 
ton  brought  arms  and  supplies  from  England. 

When  General  Lee,  in  February,  learned  through  his  spies  that  Gen 
eral  Hooker  was  allowing  his  soldiers  to  go  home,  he  rightly  surmised  that 
no  immediate  movement  would  be  attempted  by  the  Army  of  the  Poto 
mac.  The  Confederate  Government  determined  to  improve  the  opportu 
nity  to  sweep  the  Union  troops  in  Eastern  Virginia  and  North  Carolina 
into  the  sea.  They  would  conceal  their  real  design.  They  sent  D.  H. 
Hill  to  North  Carolina.  The  Governor  called  out  the  militia.  He  was  to 
make  a  demonstration  against  General  Foster,  in  command  at  Newbern, 
who  in  turn  would  be  compelled  to  ask  General  Keyes,  at  Norfolk,  to 
send  him  reinforcements,  which  would  weaken  the  force  at  Suffolk  and 
Norfolk. 

While  this  was  going  on,  Hood's,  Pickett's,  and  Anderson's  divisions, 
commanded  by  Longstreet,  were  to  be  transferred  by  railroad  to  Suffolk, 
carry  that  position,  and  then  push  on  to  Norfolk.  Hill  was  to  join 
his  troops  to  Longstreet's,  and  the  united  force  would  make  clean  work. 
Once  more  masters  of  Norfolk,  they  would  make  it  uncomfortable  for 
the  Union  fleet  off  Fortress  Monroe,  and  would  again  close  James  River. 

General  Foster,  to  strengthen  his  position  at  Newbern,  was  construct 
ing  Fort  Anderson,  on  the  banks  of  the  Neuse  River.  On  March  13th 
General  Pettigrew  came  down  the  road  through  the  woods  with  two  bri 
gades  of  North  Carolina  troops.  There  was  only  a  small  garrison  in  the 
fort,  but  there  were  two  gunboats  in  the  river — the  Hunchback  and  Het- 
zd — which  opened  fire,  and  the  Confederates  hastily  retreated. 

Twenty  miles  north  of  Newbern  is  the  little  town  of  Washington,  on 
Tar  River,  which  General  Hill  attacked,  to  capture  the  supplies  stored 
there  for  the  Union  gunboats.  It  was  occupied  only  by  a  small  garrison. 
There  were  two  gunboats  in  the  river.  General  Hill  planted  his  cannon 
on  the  north  bank,  to  prevent  any  more  vessels  from  arriving ;  but  the 
Ceres  ran  past  the  batteries  and  brought  a  supply  of  ammunition.  Foster 
came  with  two  brigades  on  transports,  but  could  not  land.  General  Spi- 
nola  started  from  Newbern,  but  was  confronted  by  the  Confederate  cav 
alry  at  Blount's  Mills,  and  turned  back.  General  Foster  was  making 


110  MARCHING  TO  VICTORY. 

arrangements  for  a  combined  attack  upon  Hill,  when  suddenly  not  a  Con 
federate  soldier  was  to  be  seen,  for  Hill  was  on  his  way  northward  to  join 
Longstreet  in  his  attack  upon  Suffolk.  He  had  made  General  Foster 
believe  that  he  had  a  large  force — that  Longstreet  was  on  his  way  to  join 
him.  General  Foster  had  sent  for  reinforcements.  He  was  promised  ten 
thousand  men ;  three  thousand  were  to  be  sent  to  him  from  Suffolk"  by 
'General  Peck,  in  command  at  that  point. 

•We  come  to  April  10th.  The  troops  from  General  Peck's  command 
are  on  the  cars.  In  a  few  minutes  they  would  be  on  their  way  to  Nor 
folk,  where  transports  were  waiting  to  take  them  to  North  Carolina. 

Just  before  the  train  started,  General  Peck  received  a  despatch  from 
General  Viele  at  Norfolk,  whose  scouts  had  captured  a  Confederate  mail. 
One  of  the  letters  stated  that  General  Longstreet  had  from  forty  thou 
sand  to  sixty  thousand  men,  and  that  General  Hill  from  North  Carolina 
was  on  his  way  to  join  him.  General  Peck,  instead  of  sending  the  three 
thousand  troops  to  Norfolk,  ordered  them  to  remain. 

General  Longstreet  was  twenty  miles  away,  west  of  Blackwater  River, 
which  runs  south  to  Albemarle  Sound.  Opening  your  maps,  you  will  see 
that  the  broad  estuary  of  James  River  at  the  entrance  of  Chesapeake  Bay 
is  called  Hampton  Roads,  where  the  fight  took  place  between  the  Mem- 
mac  and  Monitor.  Norfolk  is  on  Elizabeth  River ;  Suffolk  on  Nansemond 
River,  which  rises  in  the  dark  and  gloomy  forests  of  Dismal  Swamp,  the 
haunt  of  runaway  slaves  before  the  war — 

"Away  to  the  Dismal  Swamp  he  speeds — 

His  path  is  rugged  and  sore, 
Through  tangled  juniper,  beds  of  reeds, 
Through  many  a  fen  where  the  serpent  feeds, 

And  man  never  stood  before." 

The  country  is  low  between  the  James  River  and  the  Dismal  Swamp. 
There  are  sand-knolls,  swamps,  thickets,  groves  of  cedar,  pine,  and  oak. 
We  may  start  from  James  River  and  sail  up  a  wide  estuary  four  miles. 
This  is  called  the  Lower  Nansemond.  A  stream — the  Western  Branch — 
comes  in  here,  and  the  land  at  the  junction  is  called  Hill's  Point.  Large 
vessels  can  reach  this  point,  but  here  the  shallows  begin,  and  only  light- 
draught  vessels  can  go  up  to  Suffolk.  From  Hill's  Point  the  stream  is 
narrow  and  winding.  From  Suffolk  the  Jericho  Canal  leads  south  to  the 
Dismal  Swamp.  The  Norfolk  and  Petersburg  Railroad  crosses  the  Nanse 
mond  at  Suffolk,  turns  north-east,  skirts  the  northern  edge  of  the  Dismal 
Swamp,  and  runs  to  Norfolk. 

The  line  which  General  Peck  must  defend  extended  from  HilPs  Point 


IN  VIRGINIA.  Ill 

south  and  east  along  the  river,  and  to  the  swamp,  a  distance  of  fifteen 
miles.  A  road  comes  from  North  Carolina,  east  of  the  swamp,  to  Nor 
folk,  and  he  sent  his  cavalry  thirty  miles  away — to  South  Mills — to  hold 
this  backdoor ;  for  if  he  did  not  guard  it,  a  Confederate  force  might  gain 
his  rear,  turn  his  position,  and  seize  Norfolk. 

It  was  a  great  prize  which  Longstreet  hoped  to  gain.  If  he  could  win 
victory  he  would  capture  a  great  pile  of  railroad  iron  stored  at  Norfolk — 
enough  to  lay  sixty  miles  of  track.  The  Confederates  were  sadly  in  need 
of  it,  for  the  rails  of  the  roads  were  fast  wearing  out,  and  the  South  had 
no  iron-mills  and  few  workers  in  iron.  He  would  capture  a  large  number 
of  heavy  guns  and  a  vast  amount  of  naval  supplies.  If  he  could  recapt 
ure  Norfolk  he  would  greatly  embarrass  the  fleet  blockading  the  Chesa 
peake.  Then  he  would  turn  south,  and  make  quick  work  in  clearing 
North  Carolina. 

"  Three  thousand  troops  are  to  leave  for  North  Carolina,"  was  the 
word  which  Longstreet  received  from  his  spies.  He  knew  all  that  was 
going  on  in  the  Union  lines.  General  Hill  had  made  such  a  demonstra 
tion  at  Newbern  and  Washington  that  the  Union  officers  thought  North 
Carolina  was  the  point  of  attack.  The  time  had  come  for  him  to  strike 
the  blow.  He  crossed  the  Blackwater  April  12th.  General  Hood,  march 
ing  on  the  South  Quay  road,  captured  some  of  the  Union  cavalry  pickets, 
but  others  escaped  to  give  the  alarm.  The  other  divisions  marched  on 
other  roads  —  thirty  thousand  strong  —  converging  towards  Suffolk,  with 
boats  and  material  for  laying  bridges  across  the  Upper  Nansemond.  An 
derson's  and  Pickett's  divisions  came  from  the  south.  French's  division 
advanced  on  the  Somerton  road  ;  Hood's  along  the  railroad,  reaching 
Suffolk  at  noon  April  13th. 

General  Peck's  headquarters  were  on  the  bank  of  the  Jericho  Canal. 
He  appointed  General  Getty  commander  between  Suffolk  and  Hill's  Point. 
In  the  river  were  several  small  gunboats — Lieutenant  Lamson  commanded 
those  on  the  Upper,  Lieutenant  Gushing  those  on  the  Lower  Nansemond. 
General  Peck  had  fifteen  thousand  men  and  a  large  number  of  heavy  can 
non  in  position  behind  his  fifteen  miles  of  breastworks — so  many  and  so 
advantageously  placed  that  Longstreet  saw  that,  instead  of  surprising  Peck, 
he  had  serious  work  before  him.  Less  prudent  commanders  would  have 
charged  the  Union  fortifications,  but  would  have  seen  their  troops  cut  to 
pieces.  With  thirty  thousand  men  he  hoped  to  turn  the  position ;  but  he 
must  get  rid  of  the  gunboats  before  he  could  lay  his  bridge.  Then  he 
would  cross  below  the  Union  fortifications,  and  turn  Peck's  right  flank. 
He  would  make  a  feint  of  attacking  with  Anderson  and  Pickett  at  Suf- 


112  MARCHING  TO  VICTORY. 

folk,  while  Hood  and  French  forced  the  passage  of  the  river  at  Hill's 
Point. 

His  engineers  selected  places  for  the  batteries  at  the  bends  of  the  river, 
and  all  through  the  night  the  Confederate  soldiers  were  at  work  with 
spades  and  axes,  building  breastworks. 

Morning  dawned,  and  when  the  Union  gunboats  steamed  along  the 
river,  the  Confederate  cannon  suddenly  sent  solid  shot  and  shells  into  the 
Mount  Washington,  disabling  the  engine.  Lieutenant  Gushing,  who  was 
on  the  Lower  Kansemond  Kiver,  hastened  up  with  the  Barney  and  Step 
ping  Stones.  The  Confederate  sharp-shooters  concealed  along  the  shore 
opened  tire  from  the  thickets,  picking  off  the  sailors.  For  four  hours 
the  gunboats  and  batteries  kept  up  the  cannonade,  when  the  rising  of 
the  tide  floated  the  Mount  Washington  down -stream.  The  three  gun 
boats  were  badly  damaged. 

General  Longstreet  erected  a  battery  on  the  farm  of  Mr.  Nafleet.  He 
intended  to  build  a  bridge  at  that  point,  but  the  Union  soldiers  soon  had  a 
battery  on  the  opposite  shore.  The  gunboats  Alert  and  Oceur  de  Lion 
came  up  the  river ;  but  the  pilots  were  killed  by  the  Confederates,  and  the 
boats  riddled  by  cannon-balls. 

On  the  west  bank  of  the  river,  at  Hill's  Point,  was  a  fort  built  by  the 
Confederates  in  1862,  in  which  they  now  placed  five  cannon.  General 
Getty  resolved  to  capture  it.  He  selected  six  companies  of  the  Eighth 
Connecticut  and  six  of  the  Eighty-ninth  New  York,  in  all  two  hundred 
and  sixty  men,  commanded  by  Colonel  Ward.  They  went  on  board  the 
Stepping  Stones,  where  a  canvas  screen  drawn  above  the  bulwarks  of  the 
vessel  completely  concealed  them. 

There  is  a  bluff  on  the  west  bank  near  the  Confederate  cannon,  behind 
which  the  boat  would  be  hid  for  a  moment  from  the  Confederates. 

"  Make  believe  that  you  intend  to  run  past  the  battery ;  but  when  you 
reach  the  shelter  of  the  bluff,  run  the  boat  ashore,  leap  out,  make  a  rush, 
and  capture  the  guns,"  were  General  Getty's  orders  to  Colonel  Ward. 

The  Stepping  Stones  steams  up  the  river.  The  Confederate  artillery 
men  spring  to  their  guns.  She  reaches  the  shelter  of  the  bluff — is  lost  to 
sight ;  but  the  moment  she  comes  in  view  the  cannon  will  flame.  But 
she  does  not  come  in  view.  The  pilot  has  turned  suddenly,  laid  her  side 
to  the  shore,  and  three  hundred  men  in  a  twinkling  are  swarming  over  her 
pides  and  rushing  up  the  bank. 

The  sailors  run  their  howitzers  ashore,  drag  them  up  the  bank,  and 
wheel  them  into  position.  The  Confederates  are  astounded.  The  fight  ia 
quickly  over. 


IN   VIRGINIA.  113 

"  We  surrender !"  shout  the  Confederates  ;  and  one  hundred  and  sixty- 
one  give  themselves  up.  Other  troops  cross,  and  a  strong  garrison  holds 
the  fort. 

General  Longstreet  was  surprised.  In  a  moment  all  his  plans  had 
been  overturned.  He  saw  that  he  must  abandon  all  thoughts  of  crossing 
by  a  bridge.  To  capture  the  Union  line  he  must  begin  a  regular  siege — 
the  building  of  strong  earthworks,  mounting  heavy  guns,  etc.  ;  all  of  which 
would  require  time.  He  was  surprised  at  the  audacity  of  the  Union 
troops.  A  party  crossed  the  Lower  Nansemond,  marched  out  three  miles, 
and  drove  the  Confederate  cavalry. 

Two  days  later  General  Corcoran,  with  a  brigade,  made  a  sortie  on 
the  Edenton  Koad,  below  Suffolk,  and  drove  the  Confederates  into  their 
works. 

Every  day  the  batteries  were  thundering;  but  the  Union  guns  were 
larger  and  heavier  than  Longstreet's,  and  had  the  advantage.  But  heavy 
guns  came  from  Richmond,  and  on  the  last  day  of  April  were  ready  to 
open  fire. 

General  Hill's  troops  were  arriving  (ten  thousand  men)  from  North 
Carolina,  giving  Longstreet  forty  thousand.  With  this  reinforcement  he 
hoped  to  make  a  successful  assault. 

He  waited  till  night,  and  then,  instead  of  attacking,  withdrew  his  heavy 
guns,  packed  up  his  camp,  and  started  his  long  lines  of  wagons.  Daylight 
came,  May  3d,  and  the  Union  pickets  discovered  that  the  Confederate 
breastworks,  instead  of  swarming  with  troops,  were  silent  and  deserted. 
Longstreet  was  hastening  northward,  summoned  by  General  Lee,  who  was 
fighting  a  great  battle  at  Chancellorsville. 

The  movement  of  Hill  in  North  Carolina,  the  expenditure  of  sending 
Longstreet's  troops  to  Suffolk  and  bringing  them  back ;  all  the  marching, 
digging,  building  batteries,  waste  and  expense,  and  a  loss  of  fifteen  hundred 
men  in  the  skirmishes,  had  resulted  in  failure.  Nothing  had  been  gained. 
Quite  likely  there  would  have  been  a  far  different  result  if  General  Viele 
had  not  captured  the  man  with  the  Confederate  mail ;  for,  with  three 
thousand  of  his  best  troops  gone,  General  Peck  would  have  found  it  diffi 
cult  to  hold  his  line — fifteen  miles  long — and  it  seems  probable  that  Long- 
street  would  have  broken  through.  As  it  was,  nothing  was  gained,  but 
much  lost,  by  the  Confederates. 


114  MARCHING  TO  VICTOKY. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

COTTON  FAMINE   IN  ENGLAND. 

WHEN  the  great  slave-holders  planned  the  disruption  of  the  Union 
and  the  building  up  of  a  Confederacy  with  slavery  for  its  corner 
stone,  they  fully  believed  that  the  whole  world  would  be  compelled  to 
acknowledge  its  power.  Several  years  before  the  breaking  out  of  the  war 
Mr.  Hammond,  of  South  Carolina,  declared  in  the  Senate  of  the  United 
States  that  "  cotton  was  king,"  for  over  no  other  lands  were  wafted  such 
balmy  winds  laden  with  moisture  as  those  which  floated  inland  from  the 
Gulf  of  Mexico.  In  no  other  fields  could  be  found  cotton-plants  of  such 
luxuriant  growth  as  those  whitening  the  plantations  of  the  islands  off  the 
coast  of  South  Carolina  and  Georgia,  along  the  coast  of  Alabama,  pro 
ducing  every  year  nearly  five  million  bales.  The  States  of  South  Caro 
lina,  Georgia,  Alabama,  Mississippi,  Louisiana,  and  Texas  were  the  world's 
cotton-garden.  The  world  demanded  cotton,  and  the  Gulf  States  were 
so  endowed  by  Nature  that  they,  and  they  alone,  could  supply  the  demand. 
Nearly  two-thirds  of  all  the  cotton  used  was  produced  in  those  States.  In 
England  nearly  forty  million  spindles  were  whirling,  and  hundreds  of 
thousands  of  men,  women  and  children  earning  their  daily  bread  in  spin 
ning,  carding,  and  weaving  cotton.  In  midwinter  the  Mississippi,  at  New 
Orleans,  bore  upon  its  tide  a  great  fleet  of  ships  laden  with  the  raw  mate 
rial,  which  alone  could  keep  the  great  multitude  in  England  from  starv 
ing,  which  enriched  ship-owner,  manufacturer,  and  merchant.  "  England/"' 
said  Jefferson -Davis,  "never  will  allow  our  great  staple,  cotton,  to  be 
dammed  up  within  our  limits.  She  will  aid  us  "  ("  Drum-beat  of  the  Na 
tion,"  p.  39).  This  was  the  great  mistake  of  those  who  established  a  Con 
federacy  with  slaves  and  cotton  the  foundation  materials  of  the  structure. 
The  men  who  seceded  from  the  Union  were  ignorant  of  the  great  eco 
nomic  principles  governing  the  commerce  of  the  world.  Believing  that 
slavery  was  a  beneficent  institution  ordained  by  Almighty  God,  they  did 
not  comprehend  the  fact  that  they  were  attempting  to  establish  a  nation 


COTTON  FAMINE  IN  ENGLAND. 


115 


SHIPPING   COTTON   TO   ENGLAND   BEFORE   THE   WAR. 

upon  a  system  which,  during  the  middle  period  of  the  century,  had  be 
come  repugnant  to  the  moral  sense  of  the  world.  Thus  it  came  about 
that  they  were  confidently  expecting  recognition  by  England  and  France. 
There  were  sad  scenes  in  Great  Britain.  The  supply  of  raw  cotton 
was  exhausted.  No  longer  was  there  a  throbbing  of  steam-engines.  The 
machinery  of  the  cotton-mills  was  motionless — no  spindles  whirling,  no  shut 
tles  flying.  Hundreds  of  thousands  were  out  of  employment.  Seek  work 
where  they  might,  there  was  none  for  them.  Starvation  stared  them  in 
the  face,  and  famine,  with  all  its  horrors,  confronted  them,  and  yet  no  mur 
mur  or  complaint  fell  from  their  lips.  The  shillings  they  had  saved  by 
thrift  and  industry  disappeared ;  the  furniture  of  the  humble  home — the 
chair,  the  table,  the  clock  upon  the  mantle — the  Sunday  coat,  the  best 
gown,  the  little  gold-washed  ornament,  were  taken  to  the  pawn-shop,  until 
the  pawnbroker  had  no  place  for  articles,  nor  money  to  give  for  them. 
When  all  was  gone  they  did  not  beg  for  charity.  There  were  no  threats 
of  violence,  no  attempt  to  help  themselves  from  the  stores  of  the  rich, 
but  with  resignation  like  that  of  the  martyr  at  the  stake,  with  coun- 


116  MARCHING  TO  VICTORY. 

tenance  illumined  by  the  light  of  heaven,  they  calmly  looked  death  in 
the  face. 

Beautiful  picture  of  the  ages !  When  the  hunger  was  keenest,  when 
loved  ones  were  pining  away,  when  children  were  crying  for  bread,  when 
the  last  crumbs  had  gone,  in  humble  homes,  stripped  of  all  furniture, 
these  men  and  women,  kneeling  upon  bare  floors,  lifted  up  their  prayers 
to  God,  beseeching  success  to  the  men  who  were  fighting  to  free  the 
slave !  For,  by  a  heaven-born  instinct  they  comprehended  that  the  Stars 
and  Stripes  was  the  emblem  of  the  world's  best  hope ;  that  the  men  who 
were  upholding  that  flag  were  fighting  a  battle  for  the  poor  and  lowly  of 
every  land. 

This  the  portrayal  of  the  situation  by  the  London  Illustrated  News  : 

"  Hundreds  of  thousands,  accustomed  to  win  a  comfortable  livelihood 
by  this  honest  industry,  find  themselves  suddenly  bereft  of  the  raw  mate 
rial  on  which  their  skill  and  labor  had  been  before  employed.  The  catas 
trophe  is  as  complete  for  the  time  being  as  if  an  earthquake  had  swallowed 
up  the  mills  in  which  they  were  accustomed  to  earn  their  bread.  Their 
own  glowing  hearths,  their  cherished  household  ornaments,  the  pleasant 
things  about  them  which  they  toiled  so  long  and  patiently  to  acquire — 
all  that  administered  to  the  comfort  and  attractiveness  of  their  homes — all 
are  gone ;  desolation  has  swept  over  them  all,  and  nothing  is  left  them 
but  life,  without  the  means  of  satisfying  it,  and  brave  hearts  that  bleed 
inwardly  but  make  no  complaint.  The  last-mentioned  feature  of  the  dis 
tress  is  the  most  touching  of  all.  Most  of  us  can  well  imagine  the  an 
guish  which  has  wrung  their  souls  as,  hoping  to  avert  the  want,  and  look 
ing  with  strained  sight  into  the  dim  and  dreary  future  for  better  times, 
they  have  surrendered  one  by  one  the  articles  which  constituted  their 
modest  wealth.  We  can  realize  to  some  extent  the  intense  anxiety  with 
which  they  watched  the  rising  tide  of  misery,  the  pangs  which  they  have 
felt  in  the  progress  of  the  gradual  but  sure  approach  of  that  sharp  penury 
which,  in  the  case  of  the  great  majority  of  them,  has  already  worn  them 
to  the  bone.  Savage  winter,  following  close  upon  the  heels  of  want  and 
fever,  is  crouched  and  waiting  to  make  prey  of  physical  weakness. 

"  Th£  scene  does  not  need  another  touch  of  misery  to  deepen  its  pa 
thos  ;  but  if  it  were  possible  to  look  upon  it  with  callous  feelings,  the  sub 
lime  pathos  of  the  sufferings  would  make  indifference  impossible.  There 
has  been  nothing  like  it  in  modern  times.  The  unassuming  manliness,  the 
calm  and  intelligent  fortitude,  the  unostentatious  resignation,  the  marvel 
lous  abstention  from  all  bitterness  of  utterance,  and  the  cheerful  acquies 
cence  in  the  policy  of  right  which  the  present  distress  has  elicited,  make 


COTTON   FAMINE   IN   ENGLAND.  119 

such  an  appeal  to  English  hearts  for  sympathy  and  help  as  never  before, 
perhaps,  was  heard." 

In  Manchester,  with  a  population  of  a  little  more  than  three  hundred 
thousand,  there  were  thirty-four  thousand  starving  people.  In  other  cot 
ton  manufacturing  cities  the  distress  was  equally  great.  Soup-houses  were 
established,  great  kettles  brought  into  use,  industries  provided,  contribu 
tions  gathered,  boards  for  distribution  of  food  and  clothing  organized,  with 
Lord  Palmerston,  Prime-minister,  at  the  head.  Contributions  came  from 
India,  China,  Australia,  and  Canada.  Newspapers  were  provided,  so  that 
the  men  and  women  who  could  get  no  work  might  at  least  learn  what 
was  going  on  in  the  world.  With  eager  eyes  they  read  every  item  of 
news  concerning  the  great  struggle  between  Freedom  and  Slavery  in  the 
Western  World. 

This  the  pen-picture  from  the  correspondent  of  the  News : 

"  The  people,  as  a  rule,  had  rather  starve  than  ask  relief.  I  have  made 
rny  observations  in  families  where  death  was  within  a  few  stages,  waiting 
to  close  the  hard  but  unsuccessful  struggle  for  life.  One  cannot  with 
stand  the  intense  pleading  of  silent  want.  Halfpence  will  drop  into  little 
famished  hands  and  shillings  into  the  palms  of  mothers,  who  weep  over 
the  sufferings  of  their  children,  from  whose  cheeks  the  roses  have  long 
since  fled,  but  they  never  ask  for  charity." 

This  the  record  of  earnings  in  the  cotton  mills :  Betty  Taylor  earned 
in  two  weeks  two  shillings  and  elevenpence^)  —  less  than  seventy -five 
cents  for  twelve  days.  Susannah  Fletcher  in  two  weeks  earned  one  shil 
ling  and  sevenpence — about  thirty -six  cents — going  into  the  mill  at  eight 
o'clock  and  staying  till  half-past  five. 

Nearly  six  hundred  thousand  people(2)  were  receiving  relief.  In  the 
cotton  manufacturing  districts  only  one-third  were  working  on  full  time. 
One  hundred  and  sixty  thousand  operatives  were  working  half  time,  while 
two  hundred  and  twenty-eight  thousand  could  find  no  work.  They  were 
wholly  dependent  on  charity. 

Notwithstanding  starvation  stared  them  in  the  face,  notwithstanding 
nearly  all  the  newspapers  of  England,  the  lords,  dukes,  nobles,  and  nearly 
all  the  members  of  Parliament  sympathized  with  the  South,  these  fam 
ishing  toilers  prayed  for  the  success  of  the  North. 

On  the  evening  of  the  last  day  of  the  year  the  great  town-hall  of  Man 
chester,  England,  was  filled  with  the  working  men  and  women  of  that 
city,  many  of  whom  had  gone  hungry  through  the  day  because  "  King 
Cotton  "  had  inaugurated  a  war  in  the  United  States  for  the  establishment 
of  a  slave  empire.  The  mayor  of  the  city  presided.  They  had  assembled 


120  MARCHING  TO  VICTORY. 

for  the  purpose  of  sending  a  letter  to  President  Lincoln,  thanking  him  for 
the  Proclamation  of  Emancipation,  which  was  to  go  into  effect  at  the  hour 
of  midnight.  These  their  words  : 

"  Heartily  do  we  congratulate  you  and  your  country  on  this  hu 
mane  and  righteous  course.  We  assure  you  that  you  and  your  country 
cannot  now  stop  short  of  a  complete  uprooting  of  slavery.  .  .  .  We  im 
plore  you  for  your  own  honor  and  welfare  not  to  faint  in  your  providen 
tial  mission.  Leave  no  root  of  bitterness  to  spring  up  and  work  fresh 
misery  to  your  children.  .  .  .  Our  interests  are  identified  with  yours.  We 
are  truly  one  people,  though  locally  separate ;  and  if  you  have  any  ill- 
wishers  here,  be  assured  they  are  those  who  oppose  liberty  at  home.  .  .  . 
Accept  our  high  admiration  of  your  firmness  in  upholding  the  proclama 
tion  of  freedom." 

The  steamship  which  brought  this  address  across  the  Atlantic  passed 
a  gallant  new  ship,  built  at  Quincy,  Massachusetts,  the  George  Griswold, 
with  all  sails  set,  bound  from  New  York  to  Liverpool.  This  her  cargo : 
One  hundred  barrels  of  pork,  fifty  barrels  of  beef,  one  hundred  and  two 
boxes  of  bacon,  three  tierces  and  two  bags  of  rice,  one  hundred  and  seven 
bags  and  five  hundred  barrels  of  corn,  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  bar 
rels  and  four  hundred  and  fifteen  boxes  of  bread,  fourteen  thousand  seven 
hundred  and  thirty-six  barrels  of  flour. 

The  ship  was  full,  and  the  cargo  was  valued  at  $108,000  —  all  con 
tributed  by  the  people  of  New  York,  Philadelphia,  and  other  cities,  for 
the  starving  of  Lancashire :  the  committee  of  relief  had  still  thirty-five 
thousand  dollars  left.  The  George  Griswold  went  down  the  harbor  and 
out  through  the  Narrows  on  January  10th,  with  all  her  flags  flying,  to 
be  followed,  on  the  19th,  by  the  bark  Achilles,  from  Philadelphia,  on 
their  errands  of  mercy  in  the  spirit  of  that  Christmas  song  first  chanted 
on  earth  by  the  angels  of  God  above  the  green  pastures  of  Bethlehem— 
"  Peace  on  earth,  good  will  to  men." 

On  the  9th  of  February,  the  George  Griswold  reached  Liverpool,  sail 
ing  up  past  the  ship -yards  of  the  Messrs.  Laird,  whence  the  Florida 
and  the  Alabama  had  sailed  to  begin  their  work  of  destruction.  The 
people  of  Liverpool  had  heard  of  the  departure  of  the  vessel  from  New 
York,  and  the  commander  of  the  fort  at  the  entrance  of  the  harbor  wel 
comed  her  with  a  salute.  A  tug  took  the  Griswold  in  tow,  and  that  vessel, 
decorated  by  her  captain  with  the  flags  of  all  nations,  laden  with  food  for 
the  famishing,  freely  given,  went  on  to  her  dock  amid  the  swinging  oi 
hats  and  the  hurrahs  of  a  multitude  of  the  workingmen  of  Liverpool. 

At  that  same  hour  the  Lord-mayor  of  London  and  his  invited  guests 


m 


COTTON    FAMINE   IN   ENGLAND.  123 

were  sitting  down  to  a  banquet,  where  the  tables  were  loaded  with  the 
roast  beef  of  Old  England  and  the  delicacies  of  every  land,  with  champagne, 
sherry,  and  burgundy  sparkling  in  goblets,  with  flowers  perfuming  the  air. 
The  guests  were  two  hundred  and  fifty  —  lords,  members  of  Parliament, 
officers  of  the  army  and  navy,  including  Mr.  Mason,  of  Virginia,  author 
of  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law,  Minister  of  the  Slave  Confederacy,  impatiently 
waiting  for  its  recognition  by  the  British  Government.  The  lord-mayor 
thought  that  so  distinguished  a  gentleman  should  be  honored  with  a  toast. 

"  My  lord-mayor,  my  lady-mayoress,  my  lords,  ladies,  and  gentlemen," 
said  Mr.  Mason, "  I  am  a  stranger  among  you,  or  rather  I  was  a  stranger ; 
but  I  have  learned  since  I  came  to  London  that  men  of  English  blood 
from  my  own  Southern  land  are  not  strangers  among  you  [cheers].  I 
speak  this  from  my  heart  [cheers],  for  I  have  been  by  every  circle  in  Eng 
land,  and  by  every  class  of  society,  a  welcomed  and  honored  guest  [cheers]. 
The  day  will  come — it  is  not  far  off — when  the  relationship  between  my 
government,  now  in  its  infant  fortune,  and  yours  will  be  one  of  close  and 
intimate  relations  "  [great  cheering]. 

"  Mr.  Mason  is  right  in  saying  that  the  Confederacy  will  at  length  be 
welcomed  into  the  family  of  nations,"  said  the  Saturday  Iteview  in  its 
next  issue. 

The  London  Times  of  the  next  morning  had  the  report  of  the  banquet 
and  room  for  many  editorials  upon  various  subjects,  but  never  any  space 
for  a  recognition  of  the  generous  gift  of  the  people  of  the  United  States 
to  the  famishing  of  England. 

In  its  news  columns  of  that  morning  is  the  reply  of  Abraham  Lincoln 
to  the  workingmen  of  Manchester.  "  •  •  *  It  has  been  studiously  repre 
sented,"  wrote  Mr.  Lincoln,  "that  the  attempt  to  overthrow  this  govern 
ment  [United  States],  which  was  built  on  human  rights,  and  to  substitute 
for  it  one  which  should  exclusively  rest  on  the  basis  of  human  slavery, 
was  likely  to  obtain  favor  in  Europe.  Through  the  action  of  our  dis 
loyal  citizens  the  workingmen  of  Europe  have  been  subjected  to  a  severe 
trial.  I  cannot  but  regard  your  decisive  utterance  upon  the  question 
as  an  instance  of  sublime  Christian  heroism  which  has  not  been  surpassed 
in  any  age  or  country.  It  is  indeed  an  energetic  and  inspiring  assur 
ance  of  the  power  of  truth,  and  the  ultimate  and  universal  triumph  of 
justice,  humanity  and  freedom." 

We  are  not  to  think  that  all  of  the  people  of  Great  Britain  sided  with 
the  South.  On  the  contrary,  meetings  were  held  in  nearly  all  the  large 
cities  and  towns  by  those  whose  sympathies  were  with  the  North.  Many 
of  the  Dissenting  clergy  labored  with  great  zeal  to  arouse  public  senti- 


124  MARCHING  TO   VICTORY. 

ment  in  favor  of  the  Proclamation  of  Emancipation.     An  immense  meet 
ing  was  held  in  Exeter  Hall,  London. 

On  the  evening  of  February  12th,  while  the  people  of  England  were 
reading  the  letter  of  Abraham  Lincoln  to  the  workingmen  of  Manchester, 
while  the  thousands  of  barrels  of  flour,  the  beef,  pork,  bread,  and  bacon 
were  being  transported  from  Liverpool  to  that  city  and  the  other  manu 
facturing  towns  of  Lancashire,  the  Florida  was  falling  in  with  the  Jacob 
Bell,  one  of  the  finest  ships  that  ever  sailed  the  seas,  loaded  with  tea  from 
China:  nine  thousand  chests  —  owned  by  English  merchants,  insured  in 
English  companies — the  ship  and  cargo  valued  at  one  million  five  hun 
dred  thousand  dollars.  But  the  ship  is  American  built.  The  mechanics 
of  the  United  States  hewed  the  stalwart  timbers,  fashioned  mast  and  spar, 
and  wove  the  sails  and  spun  the  ropes.  Free  labor  constructed  the  noble 
craft,  and  the  government  built  on  slave  labor,  toasted  by  the  Lord-mayor 
of  London,  cheered  by  the  nobles,  lords,  and  members  of  Parliament,  de 
crees  that  the  stately  craft  shall  be  given  to  the  flames.  At  that  hour  the 
Alabama  is  steering  southward  across  the  equator,  to  place  herself  in  the 
track  of  the  great  fleet  of  tea -ships  doubling  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope, 
thence  sailing  onward  to  the  China  Seas,  beyond  the  reach  of  any  war 
ship  of  the  United  States,  to  light  up  the  sea  with  burning  vessels.  On 
that  same  evening  hour  the  great  ship  -  constructors,  the  Lairds,  one  of 
them  a  member  of  Parliament,  had  contracts  in  hand  for  the  construction 
of  formidable  iron-clads,  intended  for  the  Confederate  service,  with  which 
the  blockading  fleets  of  Charleston  and  Wilmington  were  to  be  scattered 
to  the  winds,  or  sent  to  the  bottom  of  the  sea. 


NOTES  TO  CHAPTER  VII. 

O  London  Times,  February  4,  1863. 
(3)  Idem,   February  5,  1863. 


BATTLE  OF   CHANCELLORSVILLE.  127 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

BATTLE  OF  CHANCELLORSVILLE. 

ALL  through  the  winter  the  Confederate  soldiers  and  slaves  were  build 
ing  forts  and  breastworks  along  the  Rappahannock  from  Banks's 
Ford  up-stream  a  distance  of  twenty-five  miles.  General  Hotchkiss,  Gen 
eral  Lee's  engineer,  thus  speaks  of  what  was  done :  "  No  time,  labor,  nor 
skill  was  spared,  and  when  completed  an  almost  impregnable  barrier  was 
presented  to  the  progress  of  the  Federal  army  throughout  the  whole  dis 
tance.  Behind  these  works  the  Confederate  army  was  as  secure  from  at 
tack  in  front  as  Wellington  at  Torres  Vedras.  In  addition,  masked  bat 
teries  were  placed  in  commanding  positions  where  there  was  a  possibility 
of  the  Union  army  attempting  to  cross.  General  Judson  concealed  near 
the  crossings  artillery  which  might  be  brought  into  use  instantly,  but  the 
positions  of  which  could  not  be  suspected." 

It  was  a  great  problem  which  General  Hooker  had  to  solve.  He  could 
not  do  it  by  mathematics.  He  could  not  sit  still  forever  at  Falmouth.  He 
must  go  somewhere.  He  must  make  a  movement  in  some  direction.  He 
could  not  cross  at  Fredericksburg  and  attempt  to  carry  the  heights,  where 
Burnside  lost  so  many  gallant  men  in  a  fruitless  endeavor.  The  Confed 
erate  army  was  there  in  a  position  stronger  than  ever.  General  Lee's  spies 
knew  every  movement  and  plan.  The  first  possible  crossing-place  above 
Fredericksburg  was  at  Banks's  Ford,  six  miles  up-stream.  The  next  was  at 
United  States  Ford,  seven  miles  above  Banks's.  To  reach  this  ford  a  road 
must  be  constructed  for  the  artillery  and  wagons.  General  Lee  had  con 
structed  intrenchments,  and  posted  troops  at  both  fords.  Just  above  the 
United  States  Ford  the  Rapidan  pours  its  flood  into  the  Rappahannock. 
If  General  Hooker  were  to  undertake  a  flank  movement  above  this  point 
he  must  cross  two  streams.  The  Rappahannock  comes  down  from  the 
north-west,  the  Rapidan  from  the  west.  It  was  so  improbable  that  Gen 
eral  Hooker  would  cross  two  streams  and  attempt  to  gain  his  rear  that 
General  Lee  had  few  troops  guarding  the  Rapidan. 

"  My  army  is  at  the  bottom  of  a  well,  and  the  enemy  holds  the  top," 


128  MARCHING   TO  VICTORY. 

wrote  General  Hooker  to  General  Peck,  who  was  at  Suffolk,  holding  that 
place  against  Longstreet.  How  should  he  get  out  of  the  well  ?  That  was 
the  one  question  which  General  Hooker  pondered  day  and  night.  He 
kept  his  thoughts  to  himself.  Whatever  they  were  no  one  knew — not 
even  his  most  trusted  corps  commanders  or  engineers.  No  spy  could  get 
at  any  plan,  yet  he  had  a  plan.  He  knew  that  the  Confederate  cavalry 
in  the  West  had  done  great  damage  in  rear  of  Buell  and  Rosecrans. 
Why  could  not  the  Union  cavalry  do  equal  damage  in  rear  of  Lee  ?  He 
appointed  General  Stoneman  to  command  an  expedition  to  go  up  the 
Rappahannock,  cross,  move  rapidly  south,  getting  in  Lee's  rear,  destroy 
the  railroad  to  Richmond,  attack  trains,  cut  off  all  parties  sent  in  pursuit, 
and  commit  all  possible  havoc. 

General  Stoneman  started  on  the  13th  of  April.  He  crossed  the  river 
at  Rappahannock  Station  ;  but  it  was  raining  in  the  mountains.  The  river 
was  rising,  the  mud  growing  deeper.  He  saw  that  he  could  not  go  on,  and 
recrossed  the  river,  pitching  his  tents  upon  the  northern  bank.  The  plan 
which  General  Hooker  thought  would  be  productive  of  confusion  in  the 
Confederate  army  had  failed.  He  must  wait  for  fair  weather  and  dry 
roads,  and  must  think  of  some  other  plan. 

In  war  it  is  of  the  utmost  importance  to  deceive  the  enemy  when  a 
movement  is  to  be  made.  The  great  French  general,  Jomini,  laid  down 
this  rule :  "  If  you  are  to  cross  a  river  in  face  of  an  enemy,  you  must 
deceive  him  as  to  the  place.  False  attacks  must  be  made  near  the  real 
ones,  to  divide  the  attention  and  means  of  the  enemy." 

While  the  cavalry  were  pitching  their  tents  on  the  bank  of  the  Rappa 
hannock,  twenty -five  miles  up-stream,  General  Doubleday,  commanding 
the  First  Corps,  marched  down-stream  to  Port  Conway,  a  little  hamlet  op 
posite  Port  Royal.  He  had  a  long  train  of  pontoons.  The  Confederate 
pickets  guarding  the  river  could  see  the  wagons  winding  over  the  hills, 
and  catch  a  glimpse  of  long  lines  of  troops  and  artillery  trains.  The  First 
Corps  at  night  kindled  fires,  not  only  for  each  regiment,  but  enough  for 
half  the  army,  and  the  Confederates  could  see  the  glimmering  lights  over 
a  large  stretch  of  country. 

General  Doubleday  planted  his  artillery.  His  soldiers  cut  logs  the 
length  of  a  cannon,  mounted  them  on  the  forward  wheels  of  baggage- 
wagons,  and  placed  them  behind  breastworks.  The  Confederate  pickets 
reported  that  an  immense  number  of  guns  were  in  position.  The  Twenty- 
fourth  Michigan  laid  the  pontoons  and  crossed  the  river.  General  Double- 
day  acted  his  part  so  well  that  General  Lee  ordered  Stonewall  Jackson  to 
move  down  towards  Port  Royal. 


BATTLE  OF  CHANCELLORSVILLE.  129 

An  aide-de-camp  handed  an  order  to  General  Howard,  commanding 
the  Eleventh  Corps,  on  the  evening  of  April  26th,  and  another  to  General 
Slocum,  commanding  the  Twelfth  Corps.  They  were  confidential  orders, 
directing  them  to  march  at  daylight  the  next  morning. 

The  troops  moved  their  encampment  at  the  appointed  hour,  General 
Howard  leading,  and  the  next  afternoon  reached  Kelley's  Ford,  twenty- 
eight  miles  from  the  starting.  A  part  of  General  Bushbeck's  brigade 
crossed  the  Kappahannock  in  boats,  and  drove  away  the  few  Confederates 
guarding  the  ford. 

At  ten  o'clock  in  the  evening  the  army  began  to  cross.  The  troops 
pushed  on  to  the  Rapidan,  crossing  it  at  Germania  Ford,  coming  suddenly 
upon  the  Confederates,  who  were  building  a  bridge,  and  who  ran  into  a 
mill.  The  Union  troops  wheeled  into  line  and  charged  upon  them,  com 
pelling  them  to  surrender.  The  bridge  was  quickly  completed,  and  at 
daybreak  on  the  morning  of  the  last  day  of  April  the  three  corps  were  on 
the  south  bank  of  the  Rapidan. 

It  was  noon  when  General  Lee  heard  of  it.  Nor  did  he  know  what  to 
make  of  it.  Down  the  river,  opposite  Port  Royal,  was  evidently  a  large 
force  ready  to  cross  on  the  pontoons  already  laid.  From  his  headquarters 
he  could  look  over  Fredericksburg  and  see  a  large  body  of  troops  on  the 
Falmouth  Hills  getting  ready  to  lay  pontoons  across  the  river.  Up-stream 
nearly  twenty-five  miles  the  roads  were  swarming  with  Union  troops. 

What  was  General  Hooker  going  to  do  ?  All  through  the  winter  Gen 
eral  Lee  had  been  making  the  front  side  of  his  house  stronger  day  by  day, 
but  now  a  large  Union  force  was  knocking  at  the  side  door. 

At  one  o'clock  a  Confederate  courier  fell  into  the  hands  of  General 
Pleasonton.  He  was  riding  hard  with  a  despatch  from  General  Lee  to 
General  Anderson,  commanding  the  Confederate  troops  up  the  river.  The 
ink  was  hardly  dry.  "I  have  just  received,"  it  read,  "reliable  informa 
tion  that  the  enemy  has  crossed  the  river  in  force.  Why  have  you  not 
kept  me  informed  ?  I  wish  to  see  you  at  my  headquarters  as  soon  as 
possible." 

General  Hooker,  by  sending  the  First  Corps  down  the  river,  by  keep 
ing  General  Sedgwick  with  a  large  force  opposite  Fredericksburg,  by 
inarching  rapidly  with  the  main  body  of  his  army  up  the  Rappahannock 
(for  the  Second  and  Third  Corps  were  following),  and  by  crossing  that 
river  and  the  Rapidan,  had  not  only  deceived  General  Lee,  but  had  per 
formed  one  of  the  most  brilliant  strategic  movements  of  the  war. 

An  important  feature  of  the  plan  was  the  movement  of  the  cavalry. 
General  Stoneman  was  on  the  Upper  Rappahannock,  near  Kelley's  Ford. 
9 


130  MARCHING   TO   VICTORY. 

He  was  to  cross,  divide  his  force,  send  part  of  it  south-west  to  destroy  the 
railroad  and  canal  leading  west  from  Richmond,  and  the  Confederate  sup 
plies  stored  in  that  direction  guarded  by  Fitz-Hugh  Lee's  division.  The 
canal  viaduct  across  the  Rivanna  River  was  to  be  blown  up. 

The  main  movement,  however,  was  to  be  the  destruction  of  the  rail 
road  leading  from  Fredericksburg  to  Richmond,  over  which  Lee  received 
his  supplies.  With  this  destroyed,  it  was  expected  that  the  Confederates 
would  be  compelled  to  evacuate  Fredericksburg. 

"  Your  watchword  should  be  '  Fight !  fight !  fight !'  "  said  Hooker,  in 
his  instructions. 

Fitz-Hugh  Lee  was  on  the  south  bank  of  the  Rapidan  with  two  thou 
sand  Confederate  cavalry,  but  the  Union  cavalry  had  no  difficulty  in  cross 
ing  Raccoon  Ford  and  advancing  to  Louisa  Court-house. 

The  Virginia  Central  Railroad,,  which  runs  from  the  Shenandoah  Val 
ley  to  Richmond,  was  torn  up,  but  the  destruction  had  no  effect  upon 
Lee.  Colonel  Wyndham,  with  a  regiment,  reached  the  canal,  intending  to 
destroy  the  aqueduct  over  the  Rivanna  River,  but  found  that  he  had  no 
means  of  blowing  it  up.  The  whole  expedition  was  a  lamentable  failure. 

Charicellorsville  was  not  a  collection  of  residences,  but  only  a  single 
farm-house,  with  a  broad  piazza,  surrounded  by  barns,  sheds,  and  corn- 
ricks — the  home  of  Mr.  Chancellor,  where  General  Hooker  established  his 
headquarters.  Standing  on  the  piazza  and  looking  south,  you  see  a  level 
field,  with  woods  beyond.  South  -  west,  half  a  mile,  are  the  ruins  of  a 
once  stately  home — "  Fairview." 

The  gentlemen  of  Old  England  who  settled  in  Virginia  two  hundred 
years  ago  gave  pleasant  names  to  their  homes.  Still  farther  towards  the 
south-west  is  "  Hazel  Grove." 

If  you  would  go  to  Fredericksburg  from  Chancellorsville  you  can  have 
the  choice  of  two  roads  part  of  the  way — the  turnpike,  which  is  the  short 
est,  and  the  plank  road,  which  joins  the  turnpike  between  Tabernacle 
Church  and  Salem  Church.  It  is  three  miles  from  Salem  Church  to  Fred 
ericksburg.  If  we  go  due  north  one  mile  from  Salem  Church  we  come 
to  the  Rappahannock,  and  if  the  water  is  not  too  high,  may  cross  it  at 
Banks's  Ford.  If  we  go  due  north  from  Chancellorsville  we  must  travel 
three  miles  before  reaching  the  river  at  United  States  Ford.  Going 
west  from  Chancellorsville  two  miles,  we  come  to  DowdalPs  Tavern,  on 
the  south  side  of  the  road.  North  of  it,  and  a  few  rods  farther  west,  are 
Wilderness  Church  and  a  farm-house. 

The  turnpike  runs  along  a  swell  of  land — the  water-shed  between  the 
Rappahannock  and  the  head-waters  of  the  Ny  River,  which  runs  south- 


BATTLE   OF  CHANCELLORSVILLE.  131 

east.  A  very  large  portion  of  the  country  is  covered  with,  a  dense  forest, 
with  paths  and  unfrequented  roads  winding  through  it.  This  is  the 
ground  and  position  reached  by  General  Hooker  April  28th. 

The  best  men  and  greatest  men  make  mistakes.  The  movement  to 
Chancellorsville  had  been  splendidly  accomplished.  General  Hooker  had 
forty-six  thousand  men,  and  General  Sickles,  with  the  Third  Corps,  fifteen 
thousand  men,  was  making  haste  to  join  him. 

General  Anderson's  division  of  Confederates  was  the  only  force  in 
position  to  oppose  him.  Anderson  was  at  Tabernacle  Church,  and  set  his 
men  instantly  at  work  building  breastworks. 

General  Lee  was  in  Fredericksburg ;  Jackson  was  down  the  river  almost 
to  Port  Eoyal.  The  Confederate  army  was  widely  scattered.  Lee  did 
not  know  what  to  make  of  Hooker's  movement.  He  saw  a  large  body  of 
Union  troops  still  on  the  Falmouth  Hills,  under  Sedgwick,  who  was  get 
ting  ready  to  cross  where  Franklin's  division  crossed  in  December.  If 
General  Hooker  were  to  advance  at  once,  he  could  brush  Anderson  away 
before  Lee  could  join  him,  forcing  him  back  into  Fredericksburg,  and  com 
pelling  Lee  to  fight  at  a  disadvantage,  or  abandon  all  his  fortifications,  and 
leave  the  place  which  he  had  held  securely  during  the  winter.  Such  a 
movement  would  open  Banks's  Ford  and  bring  Hooker  several  miles  nearer 
Sedgwick,  whose  cannon  were  thundering,  his  engineers  preparing  to  lay 
pontoons,  but  making  little  progress ;  and  General  Lee  at  last  discovered 
that  Sedgwick's  movement  was  only  a  feint — that  the  real  movement  was 
the  body  of  troops  at  Chancellorsville.  He  did  not  discover  it  till  the 
evening  of  the  30th.  A  messenger  rode  to  Stonewall  Jackson  with  orders 
to  hasten  westward.  Jackson's  troops  started  at  midnight,  and  at  eight 
o'clock  on  the  following  morning  were  at  Tabernacle  Church.  The  whole 
of  Lee's  army  was  there,  excepting  Early 's  division  of  Jackson's  corps  and 
Barksdale's  brigade  of -McLaws's  division  of  Longstreet's  corps,  which  had 
been  left  to  confront  Sedgwick. 

It  was  eleven  o'clock  Friday,  May  1st, -before  General  Hooker  was 
ready  to  advance.  He  moved  down  the  plank  road  and  the  turnpike.  The 
troops  deployed  as  well  as  they  could  in  the  thickets.  General  Sykes  met 
the  troops  of  McLaws's  division  and  drove  them  towards  Tabernacle 
Church.  General  Anderson  advanced  to  support  McLaws.  General  War 
ren,  chief  engineer  for  Hooker,  thought  the  ground  favorable  for  fighting 
a  battle,  but  General  Hooker  thought  otherwise,  and  ordered  the  troops 
to  fall  back  to  Chancellorsville,  as  a  much  stronger  position.  He  selected 
a  defensive  line  and  threw  up  breastworks  and  felled  trees,  making  a  strong 
abatis  in  front. 


132  MARCHING  TO   VICTORY. 

The  Union  troops,  for  the  most  part,  were  covered  by  woods.  To  find 
out  just  where  they  were,  General  Lee  sent  Wright's  and  Stuart's  brigades 
forward.  They  attacked  the  outposts  of  the  Twelfth  Corps  and  drove 
them  in.  The  Confederate  artillery  opened  fire,  and  the  Union  batteries 
replied.  General  Lee  saw  that  General  Hooker  occupied  a  very  strong 
position,  which  he  was  making  still  stronger  by  breastworks  and  fallen 
trees.  The  Union  artillery  was  planted  to  sweep  every  road  and  field ;  but 
he  must  attack,  or  fall  back  towards  Richmond. 

General  Stuart,  commanding  the  Confederate  cavalry,  was  riding  every 
where  through  the  woods  examining  the  Union  lines.  He  was  familiar 
with  all  the  roads  and  paths.  Through  the  winter  Stuart  had  ridden 
many  times  through  the  Wilderness.  He  saw  where  the  pickets  of  the 
Eleventh  Corps  were  stationed ;  how  General  Howard  had  formed  his 
brigades ;  that  the  best  point  to  get  at  the  Union  army  was  on  its  right 
flank  and  rear. 

General  Lee  and  General  Jackson  passed  the  night  beneath  the  pine- 
trees  near  Tabernacle  Church.  They  were  up  very  early,  and  were  sitting 
on  two  cracker-boxes  that  the  Union  troops  left  behind  as  they  fell  back 
to  Chancellors ville,  when  Stuart  arrived  from  his  reconnoissance.  They 
had  a  map  which  showed  all  the  roads  and  paths.  General  Stuart  pointed 
out  the  position  of  the  Eleventh  Corps. 

"  I  suggest  that  we  make  the  march  and  attack  their  right  flank,"  said 
Jackson. 

"With  what  force?"  Lee  asked. 

"  My  corps." 

"  What  shall  I  have  to  prevent  Hooker  from  pressing  towards  Freder- 
icksburg  ?" 

"Anderson's  and  McLaws's  divisions."^) 

General  Lee  reflected.  It  would  be  a  bold,  audacious  movement.  His 
army  was  already  divided,  and  this  would  divide  it  again.  But  Hooker 
was  so  strongly  intrenched  that  to  attack  in  front  would  result  in  terrible 
loss,  and  quite  likely  be  a  repulse.  If  Jackson  would  make  the  march 
secretly,  and  strike  a  blow  where  it  was  not  expected,  there  would  be  a 
better  prospect  of  success. 

"  You  may  make  the  movement." 

"  Let  there  be  no  cheering,  no  noise,  no  loud  talking,"  said  Jackson  to 
his  officers,  who  repeated  the  order  to  the  men. 

Rodes's  division  led  the  advance,  and  A.  P.  Hill's  brought  up  the  rear. 
The  column  turned  to  the  left  from  the  plank  road  near  the  house  of  Mr. 
Aldrich.  The  mud  was  deep,  and  the  men  followed  old  paths  through  the 


BATTLE    OF   CHANCELLORSVILLE. 


133 


woods  to  Mr.  Wolford's  iron  furnace,  turning  south- west,  then  north-west, 
making  a  zigzag  march  to  reach  the  old  Wilderness  Tavern,  two  miles 
west  of  General  Hooker's  right  wing.  General  Stuart  posted  his  cavalry 
along  the  roads  and  paths  to  screen  the  movement ;  but  the  Union  pickets 
heard  the  tramping  of  feet  and  the  rumbling  of  wheels. 

"A  column  of  the  enemy  is  moving  westward,"  was  the  message  sent 
from  General  Birney  at  nine  o'clock. 

He  was  at  Hazel  Grove,  and  could  see  the  troops,  cannon,  wagons,  and 
ambulances  streaming  along  the  road. 

What  was  the.  meaning  of  it  ?  General  Hooker  saw  what  it  might  be 
— a  movement  of  Jackson  to  gain  his  right  flank.  He  sent  this  despatch 
to  Howard  and  Slocum :  "  The  disposition  you  have  made  of  your  corps 
has  been  with  a  view  to  a  front  attack  by  the  enemy.  If  he  should  throw 


MAP   OF   CHANCELLORSVILLE. 


himself  upon  your  flank,  he  [Hooker]  wishes  you  to  examine  the  ground 
and  determine  upon  the  position  you  will  take  in  that  event.  The  right 
of  your  line  does  not  appear  strong  enough.  No  artificial  defences  worth 
naming  have  been  thrown  up.  We  have  good  reason  to  suppose  that  the 
enemy  is  moving  to  our  right.  Please  advance  your  pickets  for  purposes 
of  observation  as  far  as  may  be  safe,  in  order  to  obtain  timely  information 
of  their  approach." 

General  Howard  saw  the  Confederates,  and  sent  this  despatch  at  half- 
past  ten :  "  From  General  Devens's  headquarters  we  can  observe  a  column 
of  infantry  moving  westward  on  the  road  about  one  and  a  half  miles  south 
of  this.  I  am  taking  measures  to  resist  an  attack  from  the  west." 

General  Sickles  beheld  the  Confederate  column — men,  cannon,  wagons. 


134  MARCHING  TO   VICTORY. 

and  ambulances — winding  along  the  road,  and  ordered  Captain  Clark's 
battery  to  open  fire.  The  shells  made  a  commotion  among  the  Confeder 
ates,  who  soon  abandoned  the  road,  taking  a  wood  path  instead. 

General  Hooker,  to  make  the  right  wing  secure,  ordered  General 
Sickles  to  send  a  brigade  to  strengthen  the  Eleventh  Corps,  and  General 
Graham,  with  a  battery,  moved  up  the  turnpike.  General  Howard 
was  confident  that  the  Eleventh  Corps  was  strong  enough  to  resist  any 
attack  which  might  be  made  upon  it,  and  General  Graham  marched 
back  again. 

This  was  the  position  of  the  two  armies  at  noon,  May  2d. 

General  Jackson's  corps  of  Confederates  was  travelling  south-west, 
whereupon  the  Union  officers  came  to  the  conclusion  that  they  were 
retreating.  General  Sickles  obtained  permission  from  General  Hooker  to 
advance  and  fall  upon  them.  It  was  past  noon  when  he  started  with 
Whipple's  and  Birney's  divisions.  He  carne  to  a  swamp,  and  was  obliged 
to  halt  while  the  engineers  cut  down  trees  to  corduroy  a  road  across  it.  It 
was  three  o'clock  when  he  reached  the  road  along  which  Jackson  had 
marched.  Colonel  Berdan's  regiment  of  sharp-shooters  in  advance  came 
upon  the  Twenty-third  Georgia,  of  Jackson's  command,  and  captured  a 
portion  of  the  regiment. 

Some  of  the  prisoners  said  that  Jackson  was  moving  towards  Gordons- 
ville,  which  was  true,  but  he  was  not  going  very  far  in  that  direction ;  but 
General  Sickles  sent  word  to  Hooker  that  they  were  on  their  way  to  Gor- 
donsville,  which  was  twenty  miles  distant.  We  do  not  know  whether 
General  Hooker  believed  the  report  or  not,  but  he  sent  this  despatch  to 
Sedgwick : 

"  We  know  that  the  enemy  is  flying — trying  to  save  his  trains.  Two 
of  Sickles's  divisions  are  among  them." 

General  Hooker  ordered  General  Howard  to  send  out  a  brigade  to 
support  Sickles ;  and  General  Barlow,  who  was  in  reserve  in  the  field 
north  of  Dowdall's  Tavern,  just  where  he  ought  to  be,  and  where  he 
ought  to  have  remained,  moved  south  over  a  road  leading  to  the  iron  fur 
nace.  The  f  soldiers  left  their  knapsacks  behind,  little  thinking  that  they 
would  not  see  them  again  for  several  months,  and  that  they  would  recovei 
some  of  them  on  the  field  of  Wauhatchie,  at  the  base  of  Lookout  Moun!> 
ain,  in  Tennessee. 

General  Williams's  division,  of  the  Twelfth  Corps,  went  out  to  join 
Sickles,  with  Livingston's  and  Randolph's  batteries.  Three  regiments  of 
cavalry  also  marched  in  that  direction  —  in  all,  fifteen  thousand  men — 
removed  from  the  defensive  line  which  Hooker  had  chosen,  and  sent  to 


BATTLE   OF   CHANCELLORSVILLE.  135 

strike  the  rear  of  a  column  which  was  supposed  to  be  retreating  to  Gor- 
donsville. 

At  the  hour  of  four  the  Eleventh  Corps,  with  Barlow's  brigade,  one  of 
the  most  efficient  of  the  corps,  taken  from  it,  stood  alone,  with  no  supports 
near  at  hand.  General  Howard's  headquarters  were  at  Dowdall's  Tavern. 
In  the  field  south  of  the  tavern  a  few  rods  was  Bushbeck's  brigade.  West 
of  Dowdall's  half  a  mile  is  the  house  of  Mr.  Tally,  where  General  Stein- 
wehr,  commanding  one  of  Howard's  divisions,  had  his  headquarters.  At 
Mr.  Tally's  house  the  line  turned  a  right  angle  to  the  north  through  a 
tangled  thicket  to  Mr.  Hawkins's  farm.  On  the  north  side  of  the  turn 
pike,  a  short  distance  from  Dowdall's,  is  the  Wilderness  Church,  a  plain 
building,  with  no  tower  or  spire.  General  Schurz's  division  was  around 
and  beyond  it.  On  the  farm  of  Mr.  Hatch,  north-west  of  the  church, 
was  General  Devens's  division,  Yon  Gilsa's  brigade  holding  the  extreme 
right  of  the  line.  With  Barlow  gone,  General  Howard  had  about  nine 
thousand  five  hundred  men — three-fourths  of  a  mile  from  their  nearest 
supports. 

The  soldiers  of  the  Eleventh  Corps  could  see  clouds  of  dust  in  the 
west.  Captain  Yon  Fitsch,  sent  out  with  a  company  to  reconnoitre,  saw  a 
body  of  Confederates.  The  pickets  reported  that  a  Confederate  column 
was  moving  north-west  along  the  flank  of  the  Eleventh  Corps ;  they  could 
hear  the  rumbling  of  cannon  -  wheels.  General  Howard  listened  to  the 
stories  of  the  pickets,  but  made  no  change  in  the  position  of  his  troops. 
He  says,  in  his  account  of  the  battle,  "  I  did  not  think  that  General  Lee 
would  be  likely  to  move  around  our  right,  because  our  force  was  much 
larger  than  his.  He  had  already  been  compelled  to  divide  his  army,  in 
order  to  hold  Sedgwick  back.  He  could  not  afford  to  divide  it  again  ;  for 
should  he  attempt  to  do  that,  Hooker  would  attack  his  separate  bodies  and 
conquer  them  in  detail ;  so  I  reasoned,  and  so  did  others." 

Had  the  Union  commanders  reflected  upon  Stonewall  Jackson's  tactics, 
they  would  have  seen  that  it  was  not  his  way  to  retreat,  but  that  it  was  his 
way  to  gain  the  rear  and  flank  of  his  opponent,  as  in  his  movement  upon 
McClellan  on  the  Peninsula,  upon  Pope  at  Manassas. 

Mr.  Tally,  who  owned  the  house  where  General  Howard  had  his  head 
quarters,  and  who  knew  every  acre  of  ground,  all  the  roads  and  paths,  rode 
by  the  side  of  Fitz-Hugh  Lee  in  advance  of  the  Confederate  cavalry.  Mr. 
Tally  took  him  to  the  top  of  a  rounded  hill.  The  scene  below  him  is  thus 
described  by  General  Fitz-Hugh  Lee  :  "  What  a  sight  presented  itself  to 
me !  Below,  but  a  few  hundred  yards  distant,  ran  the  Federal  line  of  bat 
tle.  I  was  in  rear  of  Howard's  right.  There  was  a  line  of  defence,  with 


136  MARCHING  TO   VICTORY. 

abatis  in  front  and  a  long  line  of  stacked  arms  in  rear.  Two  cannon  were 
visible  in  the  part  of  the  line  seen,  the  soldiers  were  in  groups  in  the  rear, 
laughing,  chatting,  smoking,  engaged  here  and  there  probably  in  games  of 
cards  and  other  amusements.  In  rear  of  them  were  other  parties  slaughter 
ing  cattle." 

General  Fitz-Hugh  Lee  and  Mr.  Tally  came  down  from  the  hill  and 
found  General  Jackson. 

"  Come  with  me,  and  I  will  show  you  the  advantage  of  attacking  by 
the  turnpike  instead  of  by  the  plank  road,"  said  Fitz-Hugh  Lee. 

General  Jackson  had  made  his  plan  to  march  up  the  plank  road  and 
fall  upon  Howard  with  his  troops  facing  north-west,  which  would  have 
brought  him  squarely  against  Howard's  breastworks.  He  rode  with  Lee 
to  the  base  of  the  hill,  dismounted,  and  gained  the  top.  He  gazed  upon 
the  scene  with  keen  delight.  Every  feature  revealed  his  ecstatic  enjoy 
ment  as  he  noted  the  positions  of  the  divisions  of  the  Eleventh  Corps. (2) 
He  was  a  very  religious  man,  and  his  soldiers  often  heard  him  offering 
prayer.  Fitz-Hugh  Lee  and  Mr.  Tally  heard  his  low  utterances.  He  saw 
just  where  he  could  strike  a  blow  which  would  crush  Howard's  line  as 
one  might  crush  a  bandbox. 

He  rejoined  his  troops,  went  on  to  the  turnpike  north-west,  then  turned 
due  east  and  deployed  his  divisions  in  the  fields  by  the  Wilderness  Tavern, 
leaving  Paxton's  brigade  and  the  cavalry  at  the  plank  road. 

Stealthily  the  Confederate  skirmishers  approached  the  spot  where 
Howard's  videttes  were  stationed  on  the  turnpike — three  of  them — one  of 
whom  was  captured,  one  shot,  while  the  third,  with  bullets  whistling  past 
him,  made  his  way  like  a  deer  towards  the  Union  lines. 

"  The  woods  are  full  of  rebels,"  he  shouted.  Others  had  told  the  same 
story,  and  nothing  was  done  to  verify  its  truth  or  falsity.  The  belief 
that  Jackson  was  retreating  towards  Gordons ville  had  been  accepted,  and 
it  was  taken  for  granted  that  his  cavalry  was  guarding  his  rear. 

Jackson  formed  his  lines  with  Rodes's  division  in  front,  Iverson's  and 
Rodes's  old  brigades  north  of  the  road,  Dole's  and  Colquitt's  south  of 
it.  Six  hundred  feet  in  rear  came  Colston's  division. 

A.  P.  Hill's  division  brought  up  the  rear — not  in  line  of  battle,  but  in 
column  in  the  road. 

The  woods  were  very  thick,  the  trees  small,  standing  so  closely  that  the 
troops  found  it  difficult  to  make  their  way.  All  the  cannon,  except  two 
pieces  of  Stuart's  artillery,  were  left  behind. 

It  was  just  six  o'clock,  the  sun  an  hour  above  the  western  horizon. 
The  young  leaves  were  on  the  trees,  the  air  fragrant  with  the  perfume  of 


BATTLE   OF   CHANCELLORSVILLE.  137 

opening  spring  flowers.  The  forest  was  alive  with  game,  and  the  Con 
federates  saw  rabbits  and  squirrels  running  in  advance  of  them  as  they 
marched  on. 

Twenty-six  thousand  men  were  moving  as  noiselessly  as  the  tides  of  the 
sea  to  overwhelm  the  less  than  ten  thousand  troops  of  the  Eleventh  Corps, 
who  were  eating  supper,  playing  cards,  or  lying  listlessly  on  the  ground, 
their  heads  upon  their  knapsacks,  their  cartridge-boxes  unslung,  their  arms 
stacked,  and  who  had  no  suspicion  of  the  whirlwind  that  was  advancing  to 
sweep  them  away. 

Suddenly  the  Union  pickets  saw  rabbits  and  squirrels  leaping  past  them 
and  scampering  towards  the  Union  position.  A  moment  later  they  heard  a 
confused  hum,  the  tramping  of  feet,  the  rustling  of  the  last  year's  leaves, 
and  beheld  a  line  of  men  in  gray  swiftly  advancing.  They  fired  their  guns 
and  fled,  the  Confederates  rapidly  following.  Howard's  men  heard  the 
guns,  and  beheld  the  rabbits  and  squirrels  bounding  over  their  breast 
works.  In  came  the  pickets,  shouting  that  the  Confederates  were  upon 
them.  They  heard  a  rustling  like  the  rising  of  the  wind,  like  the  surge 
of  an  advancing  wave. 

The  One  Hundred  and  Fifty-third  Pennsylvania  and  the  Sixty-eighth 
New  York  were  on  the  extreme  right  of  Howard's  line — new  regiments 
recruited  from  the  German  population  of  those  States  who  had  seen  no 
service,  never  had  heard  the  sound  of  a  minie-bullet  whistling  past  them, 
and  who  knew  nothing  of  discipline.  They  were  in  groups,  with  their 
guns  stacked.  Upon  them  the  blow  was  to  fall.  They  heard  a  wild 
yell  as  startling  as  the  warwhoop  of  a  tribe  of  Indians  in  battle;  then 
came  a  roll  of  musketry  and  a  humming  like  that  of  bees  in  the  air 
around  them.  A  shell  exploded  among  them.  All  this  in  one  minute. 
We  might  as  well  expect  a  house  built  of  laths  to  withstand  a  whirl 
wind  as  to  count  upon  such  undisciplined  soldiers  to  seize  their  guns, 
form  in  line,  and  confront  Stonewall  Jackson's  veterans  under  such  cir 
cumstances.  A  few  grasped  their  guns  and  fired,  but  most  of  the  sol 
diers  of  those  two  regiments  ran  like  deer  across  the  fields  of  Mr.  Haw 
kins,  some  of  them  never  stopping  till  they  reached  Ely's  Ford,  where  a 
German  threw  himself  panting  upon  the  ground,  exclaiming  "  Mine  Gott, 
vat  a  times !"  Baggage- wagons,  ambulances,  ammunition  trains,  together 
with  a  herd  of  oxen,  all  the  camp-followers,  and  frightened  soldiers  went 
tearing  down  the  plank  road  and  streaming  across  the  fields  in  rout  and 
panic. 

"  I  could  see,"  says  General  Howard,  "  numbers  of  our  men — not  the 
few  stragglers  that  always  fly  like  chaff  at  the  first  breeze,  but  scores  of 


138 


MARCHING  TO  VICTORY. 


them,  rushing  into  the  opening,  some  with  arms  and  some  without,  run 
ning  or  falling  before  they  got  behind  the  cover  of  Devens's  reserves,  and 
before  General  Schurz's  waiting  masses  could  deploy  or  charge.  (3)  The 
noise  and  smoke  filled  the  air  with  excitement;  and  to  add  to  it,  Dickman's 
guns  and  caissons,  with  battery,  were  scattered,  rolled  and  tumbled,  like 
runaway  wagons  and  carts  in  a  thronged  city.  The  guns  and  the  masses 
of  the  right  brigade  struck  the  second  line  of  Devens's  before  McLain's 
front  had  given  way ;  and  quicker  than  it  can  be  told,  with  all  the  fury  of 
the  wildest  hail-storm,  everything — every  sort  of  organization  that  lay  in 
the  path  of  the  mad  current  of  panic-stricken  men — had  to  give  way  and 


WILDERNESS   CHURCH. 

The  view  is  from  Dowdall's  Tavern,  looking  north-west.  General  Devens'a  brigade  was  in  the  field 
beyond  Hawkins's  house,  seen  in  the  distance.  Wiederick's  and  Dilger's  batteries  came  into  position  in  the 
foreground,  where  General  Howard  formed  his  second  line. 

be  broken  into  fragments.  My  own  horse  seemed  to  catch  the  fury;  he 
sprung,  he  rose  high  on  his  hind-legs,  and  fell  over,  throwing  me  to  the 
ground.  My  aide-de-camp,  Dessane,  was  struck  by  a  shot  and  killed,  and 
for  a  few  moments  I  was  as  helpless  as  any  of  the  men  speeding  without 
arms  to  the  rear." 

Captain  Hickman,  Battery  I,  First  Ohio,  had  two  cannon  in  the  road 
leading  up  to  the  woods  from  Hawkins's  house,  but  before  he  could  get 
them  into  position  the  Confederates  were  upon  him,  and  the  gunners  were 
compelled  to  flee,  leaving  their  cannon. 

A  few  men  of  the  Pennsylvania  regiment,  not  panic-stricken,  fired  a 
volley,  which  did  great  execution ;  but  they  too  were  obliged  to  go. 


BATTLE   OF   CHANCELLORS VILLE.  139 

The  Seventy-third  and  Twenty-fifth  Ohio  seized  their  guns,  changed 
front,  and  made  a  stubborn  fight.  McLain's  brigade  of  Union  troops, 
which  had  faced  south,  changed  front  to  the  north-west,  and  resolutely 
confronted  Dole's  brigade  of  Confederates.  It  was  a  veteran  brigade- 
had  been  in  many  battles.  Though  so  greatly  outnumbered,  the  brigade 
maintained  its  ground  till  five  commanders  of  regiments  were  killed  or 
wounded — till  the  Confederates  were  folding  round  its  flank,  and  then  the 
survivors,  with  more  than  six  hundred  of  their  number  killed  or  wounded, 
retreated  across  the  field. 

General  Devens,  commanding  the  division,  was  wounded,  but  did  what 
he  could  to  form  a  new  line. 

General  Schurz  was  at  Howard's  headquarters  when  the  crash  came. 
He  dashed  up  the  turnpike,  and  saw  the  Confederates  falling  upon  the 
Twenty-sixth  Wisconsin  and  One  Hundred  and  Nineteenth  New  York- 
new  regiments — but  they  held  their  ground  till  more  than  half  the  officers 
and  a  large  number  of  the  men  were  killed  or  wounded,  and  then  retired 
in  good  order  past  the  Wilderness  Church. 

General  Schimmelpfennig,  an  officer  from  Germany,  commanded  a  bri 
gade  in  the  second  line  of  the  Eleventh  Corps.  When  the  troops  of  the 
front  line  came  dashing  through  his  regiments  he  kept  them  steady, 
changed  front,  advanced,  and  met  the  Confederates.  Seventy  men  went 
down  in  the  Eighty-second  Illinois.  Its  commander,  Colonel  Hecker,  to 
rally  his  men,  seized  the  flag  and  waved  it,  but  the  next  moment  fell  from 
his  saddle  pierced  by  a  bullet.  Slowly  across  the  field  the  brigade  retired, 
firing  upon  the  advancing  Confederates. 

General  Howard  saw  that  the  only  place  where  he  could  make  a  stand 
was  on  the  ridge  north  of  Dowdall's  Tavern.  He  ordered  the  artillery  into 
position.  There  was  a  quick  lashing  of  horses,  and  in  two  minutes  Dilger's 
and  Wiederick's  batteries  were  sending  shells  into  the  Confederate  ranks. 
Bushbeck's  brigade  opened  a  fire  which  did  great  execution,  maintaining 
their  position.  For  more  than  an  hour  the  four  thousand  men  and  the 
artillery  on  the  ridge  east  of  the  church  confronted  the  Confederates,  who 
outnumbered  them  three  to  one  after  the  crumbling  of  Howard's  first  line. 
Darkness  was  coming  on,  the  night  settling  down,  when  these  men  of  the 
Eleventh  Corps  moved  down  the  road  towards  Chancellorsville.  Without 
assistance  from  any  quarter  they  had  done  what  they  could  to  check  the 
advance  of  Jackson. 

The  first  intimation  General  Hooker  had  of  disaster  to  his  right  flank 
was  from  the  fugitives  streaming  past  his  headquarters.  He  was  quick 
to  act.  He  must  recall  Sickles ;  must  throw  a  force  in  front  of  Jackson. 


140  MARCHING   TO   VICTORY. 

His  own  old  division,  which  he  led  at  Williamsburg,  at  Fair  Oaks,  at  the 
second  Bull  Run,  at  Antietam,  was  in  reserve  under  General  Berry.  It 
came  into  position  in  the  fields  west  of  Chancellorsville. 

The  retreating  troops  formed  behind  this  tried  and  faithful  division. 
The  Eighty-second  Ohio,  Eighty-second  Illinois,  Twenty-sixth  Wisconsin, 
One  Hundred  and  Fifty-seventh  New  York,  and  other  regiments  halted, 
dressed  their  lines,  and  stood  ready  to  face  the  foe  once  more. 

Daylight  had  faded.  The  Confederates  had  driven  in  the  Eleventh 
Corps,  but  not  without  great  loss.  The  stubborn  resistance  on  the  ridge 
at  Dowdall's  had  made  sad  havoc  in  Jackson's  front  line,  which  had  become 
disorganized.  Brigades  and  regiments  were  in  such  confusion  that  Jack 
son  was  obliged  to  halt  to  reform  them. 

" In  the  advance,"  says  General  Colston,  "the  formation  of  the  troops 
became  very  much  confused,  and  the  different  regiments,  brigades,  and 
divisions  were  mixed  up." 

At  this  hour  let  us  go  down  to  Hazel  Grove,  south  of  Jackson's  posi 
tion.  The  cavalry  brigade,  under  General  Devin,  is  there,  sent  out  to  sup 
port  Sickles.  There  are  three  regiments  —  the  Eighth  and  Seventeenth 
Pennsylvania  and  Sixth  New  York,  with  Martin's  horse  battery.  Al 
though  General  Devin  commands  the-  brigade,  General  Pleasonton,  who 
commands  what  little  cavalry  has  been  left  by  Stoneman,  is  the  ranking 
officer. 

It  was  nearly  sunset  when  a  messenger  informed  General  Pleasonton 
that  the  enemy  had  attacked  the  Eleventh  Corps. 

The  Eighth  Pennsylvania  had  halted  in  the  woods  waiting  for  orders. 
Major  Keenan,  Captain  Dudley,  Adjutant  Haddock,  and  Lieutenant  Wells 
were  under  a  tree  playing  cards. 

"  Mount !"  was  the  order  from  Major  Huey,  commanding  the  regi 
ment. 

"  You  have  spoiled  a  good  game  by  the  order,"  said  Major  Keenan. (4) 

The  regiment  was  ordered  to  report  to  General  Howard. 

"  You  will  find  him  near  Wilderness  Church,"  said  General  Pleas 
onton. 

No  word  of  a  disaster  had  reached  them.  They  had  not  heard  the 
firing ;  they  did  not  know  that  the  Eleventh  Corps  was  drifting  towards 
Chancellorsville,  or  that  Jackson's  lines  were  advancing  towards  Fairview. 
The  column  wound  along  the  road.  Major  Huey,  Major  Keenan,  Captain 
Arrowsmith,  Lieutenant  Carpenter,  and  Adjutant  Haddock  were  in  front. 
The  regiment  was  in  good  spirits.  They  had  seen  the  Confederates  re 
treating,  as  they  supposed,  towards  Gordonsville.  They  had  no  thought 


BATTLE   OF   CHANCELLORS  VILLE.  141 

of  an  impending  engagement.  Their  sabres  were  in  their  scabbards,  and 
the  men  riding  listlessly.  They  reached  the  plank  road,  when  suddenly 
they  were  confronted  by  the  advancing  Confederate  line. 

There  are  moments  in  battle  when  men  must  think  quick  and  act 
upon  the  instant — when  a  moment's  delay  is  fatal.  What  shall  be  done  ? 
Cavalrymen  and  Confederates  alike  are  astounded. 

"  Draw  sabre !" 

In  an  instant  the  bright  blades  gleam  in  the  fading  light. 

"  Charge !" 

The  spurs  prick  the  horses'  sides.  Down  the  road  plunges  the  column 
—the  horses  straining  every  muscle,  the  men  comprehending  the  great 
ness  of  the  moment,  lifting  their  sabres  high  in  air.  They  rush  upon  the 
astonished  Confederates,  who  stand  motionless  and  irresolute.  The  horses 
trample  them  down.  Sabre  blows  fall  thick  and  fast.  Some  of  the  Con 
federates  throw  down  their  guns  and  raise  their  hands  beseechingly. 

Recovering  from  their  astonishment,  the  Confederates  open  fire,  and 
horse  and  rider  tumble  headlong.  For  one  hundred  yards  the  cavalry 
column  ploughs  its  way  through  the  infantry  ranks  before  it  loses  its 
aggressive  force.  It  is  the  work  of  three  minutes,  but  in  that  brief  period 
eighty  horses  have  gone  down  and  thirty  cavalrymen  have  been  killed  and 
wounded,  and  nearly  as  many  Confederates. 

Among  the  slain  are  Major  Keenan,  Captain  Arrowsmith,  arid  Adju 
tant  Haddock.  The  regiment  cuts  its  way  out  and  reaches  the  open  field 
at  Fairview. 

Without  doubt  this  unpremeditated  engagement  had  an  important 
bearing  upon  Jackson's  contemplated  movements  ;  not  because  any  great 
thing  was  accomplished,  but  it  was  an  attack  from  an  unexpected  quarter, 
and  there  was  no  knowing  what  might  be  behind  it.  It  was  an  attack  upon 
his  right  flank,  which  made  him  cautious. 

We  are  to  keep  in  mind  the  fact  that  General  Sickles  was  far  out  from 
the  main  line,  preparing  to  fall  upon  Lee's  left  flank. 

"  The  enemy  have  attacked  Howard  and  driven  him  in,"  was  the  mes 
sage  sent  to  Sickles. 

"  That  cannot  be,"  was  the  reply.  He  had  heard  no  firing.  He  fully 
believed  that  Jackson  was  retreating,  and  he  was  getting  ready  to  double 
up  Lee's  flank. 

"  Return  at  once,"  was  the  order  from  Hooker  by  a  second  messenger. 

While  General  Sickles's  troops  are  making  their  way  back  towards 
Fairview,  let  us  see  what  is  going  on  there.  Berry's  division  is  coming 
into  position  ;  the  troops  of  the  Eleventh  Corps  are  forming  behind  it, 


142  MARCHING  TO   VICTORY. 

General  Slocum  is  facing  the  troops  of  the  Twelfth  Corps  towards  the 
west.  Down  by  Hazel  Grove  is  the  artillery  of  Whipple's  division  and 
Martin's  horse  battery.  The  Confederates  are  advancing. 

General  Pleasonton  ordered  Martin's  battery  into  position  and  to  load 
with  double  charges  of  canister.  Captain  Crosby,  commanding  a  battery, 
rode  up.  "  General,  I  have  a  battery  of  six  guns ;  where  shall  I  go  ?" 

"  Place  your  guns  on  the  right  of  Martin's. "(5) 

Captain  Huntington,  of  the  First  Ohio  Battery,  wheeled  his  guns  into 
line,  and  in  a  short  time  others  came,  making  twenty-two  cannon  in  all. 

General  Pleasonton  directed  the  gunners  how  to  aim.  The  Confeder 
ates  were  about  six  hundred  feet  distant. 

"  Aim  so  the  shot  will  hit  the  ground  half-way  between  the  guns  and 
the  woods."  He  knew  that  the  shot  would  strike  and  be  deflected  from 
the  ground  at  the  same  angle,  and  would  not  fail  to  do  great  execution. 

Darkness  is  setting  in  when  the  Confederates  reach  the  edge  of  the 
woods.  The  cannoneers  stand  waiting  for  the  order  to  fire.  One  of  them 
sees  a  Union  flag  along  the  line  at  the  edge  of  the  woods. 

"  General,  are  not  those  our  troops  ?"  asks  a  cannoneer. 

•k  Major  Thomson,  ride  out  there  and  see  who  those  people  are,"  is  the 
order  of  Pleasonton  to  one  of  his  staff. 

The  officer  rides  forward. 

"Come  on,  we  are  your  friends,"  are  the  words  from  the  woods.  Major 
Thomson  sees  three  Union  flags  waving,  trophies  picked  up  by  the  Confed 
erates.  A  bullet  whistles  past  him,  and  then  comes  the  battle-cry  of  the 
Confederates — the  prolonged  yell  of  thousands  of  men.  His  horse  wheels, 
and  the  major  is  lying  low  upon  his  neck  as  he  rides  back.  The  twenty- 
two  cannon  are  flaming,  pouring  a  terrific  stream  of  canister  into  the  Con 
federate  ranks.  (6) 

Jackson  had  advanced  nearly  through  the  woods  west  of  Chancellors- 
ville  and  Fairview.  One  thought  had  taken  possession  of  him  :  to  get  be 
tween  Hooker  and  the  river,  cut  off  his  retreat,  push  the  Union  army 
against  Lee,  and  grind  it  to  pieces  as  corn  is  ground  between  millstones. 
He  had  placed  A.  P.  Hill's  division  in  front.  They  were  fresh  troops,  and 
he  was  confident  of  success.  It  is  evident  that  he  understood  very  imper 
fectly  the  situation  of  the  Union  army.  It  is  evident  also  that  if  such  a 
movement  had  been  attempted  it  would  have  failed  of  success.  The  moon 
was  full,  and  his  advance  would  have  been  seen  and  met  by  a  terrible  fire 
from  Berry's  division,  from  the  Fifth  and  Twelfth  Corps,  and  the  First 
Corps  moving  up  from  the  river,  taking  a  position  to  fall  upon  his 
flank. 


BATTLE   OF   CHANCELLOKSVILLE. 

His  troops  were  near  the  house  of  Mr.  Van  Wert ;  the  lines  of  the  two 
armies  were  not  more  than  fifty  rods  apart.  Although  Jackson  evidently 
believed  that  the  Union  troops  were  still  fleeing,  he  rode  forward  with  his 
staff  to  reconnoitre,  going  beyond  his  pickets. 

"  Isn't  this  the  wrong  place  for  you  ?"  asks  one  of  his  staff. 

"  The  danger  is  over.  The  enemy  is  routed.  Go  and  tell  A.  P.  Hill  to 
press  right  on."(7) 

The  Eleventh  Corps  had  been  routed,  but  Berry's  division  and  the 
Twelfth  Corps  were  not.  Immediately  in  front  of  Jackson,  lying  behind 
breastworks,  not  three  hundred  feet  distant,  is  the  First  Massachusetts. 
The  soldiers  hear  the  tramping  of  horses'  feet,  and  discover  dark  forms 
moving  through  the  forest.  They  fire  a  volley.  The  Confederate  troops 
south  of  the  road  reply.  A  ball  cuts  through  the  palm  of  Jackson's  right 
hand,  and  two  through  his  left  arm.  Captain  Boswell,  of  his  staff,  is  killed, 
and  several  others  wounded.  Jackson's  frightened  horse  rushes  through 
the  woods  towards  the  Union  line,  but  he  turns  it  back  upon  the  plank  road. 
Captain  "Wilbowen,  of  his  staff,  seizes  the  bridle  and  quiets  the  horse,  and 
Jackson,  weak  and  faint,  falls  into  his  arms  and  is  laid  upon  the  ground. 
The  Union  troops  are  advancing.  Two  Union  skirmishers  are  captured 
only  a  few  yards  away.  Two  Union  cannon  are  wheeling  into  position 
within  three  hundred  feet  to  sweep  the  road.  Captain  Leigh  raises  him, 
and  carries  him  a  few  rods.  He  is  placed  upon  a  litter.  But  now  the  Union 
cannon  flame,  and  one  of  the  litter-bearers  is  shot  dead.  The  whole  party 
fall  flat  upon  their  faces.  A  terrible  storm  of  canister  is  hurled  into  the 
forest,  cutting  the  twigs  and  young  leaves  as  a  hail-storm  cuts  the  ripened 
grain.  Captain  Crutchfield,  commanding  the  Confederate  artillery,  and 
many  others  are  wounded. 

The  line  of  fire  changes,  and  the  bearers  lift  him  once  more,  carrying 
him  to  A.  P.  Hill's  line  of  battle.  General  Pender  recognizes  him  in  the 
darkness. 

"  I  fear  we  cannot  hold  our  position.  The  troops  have  suffered  from 
the  artillery  fire  and  are  in  disorder,"  said  Pender. 

"  You  must  hold  the  ground,"  is  the  reply  from  Jackson. 

Again  the  storm  bursts  upon  them.  One  of  the  litter-bearers  falls,  and 
the  shot  extorts  a  groan  from  the  wounded  commander,  but  they  reach  an 
ambulance  and  he  is  carried  to  the  rear — to  the  house  of  Major  Lacey,  be 
yond  the  Wilderness  Tavern.  His  left  arm  is  shattered,  and  the  surgeons 
sever  it  from  the  body.  His  wounds  begin  to  heal,  but  pneumonia  sets  in. 
The  disease  baffles  the  skill  of  the  physicians,  and  he  dies  peacefully  on 
Thursday,  at  Guiney's  Station.  His  mind  was  wandering.  He  was  on  the 


14A 


MARCHING  TO   VICTORY. 


WHERE    STONEWATJ,   JACKSON   WAS   SHOT. 


battle  -  field  issuing  the  order,  "  Tell  A.  P.  Hill  to  prepare  for  action !" 
Beautiful  and  tender  were  the  last  words  upon  his  lips :  "  Let  us  cross  the 
river  and  rest  beneath  the  shade  of  the  trees."  The  Confederates  had  lost 
a  great  commander,  one  of  remarkable  piety  of  character  and  of  executive 
ability,  whose  name  will  live  in  history  so  long  as  the  story  of  the  mighty 
conflict  shall  be  told. 

It  probably  never  will  be  known  who  fired  the  volley  which  wounded 
him — whether  the  First  Massachusetts  or  his  own  men.  It  has  gone  into 
history  that  it  was  his  own  men.  A  correspondent  of  a  Richmond  paper 
reported  that  Jackson  said  that  it  was  by  his  own  men.  Captain  Hotchkiss, 
Jackson's  chief  engineer,  who  has  written  a  book  about  Chancellorsville, 
says, "  His  party,  mistaken  for  Federal  cavalry,  were  fired  into  by  a  brigade 
on  the  south  of  the  road  at  a  distance  of  not  more  than  thirty  or  forty 
yards." 

Jackson's  enthusiasm  overmastered  for  the  moment  his  prudence,  and 


BATTLE   OF   CHANCELLORSVILLE.  145 

led  him  in  front  of  his  own  line  and  close  up  to  those  opposing  him — as 
suredly  not  the  proper  place  for  a  commanding  general. 

In  the  artillery  fire  from  the  Union  guns  General  A.  P.  Hill  was 
wounded,  and  General  Stuart  became  commander  of  Jackson's  troops. 

The  action  of  the  artillery  is  thus  described  by  one  who  served  in  the 
Confederate  army :  "  The  ridge  in  front  of  Chancellorsville  resembled  a 
volcano  vomiting  iron  and  fire.  A  hurricane  of  shell  and  canister  swept 
the  road  as  with  a  besom  of  destruction,  and  the  broken  ranks,  riderless 
horses,  and  wild  confusion  made  up  a  scene  of  tumult  which  was  enough 
to  try  the  stoutest  nerves.  A  storm  of  grape  tore  through  the  trees  and 
along  the  road,  and  for  a  moment  the  Southern  line  was  thrown  into  dis 
order.^8) 

It  is  altogether  probable  that  if  Jackson  had  not  been  wounded,  and 
had  pushed  on  A.  P.  Hill,  as  he  intended,  in  the  darkness,  the  Confederate 
troops  would  have  been  fearfully  cut  to  pieces  by  the  veterans  of  Berry's 
division,  standing  mute  and  motionless,  waiting  for  the  expected  advance 
which,  in  consequence  of  Jackson's  wounding,  was  not  attempted. 

General  Sickles  had  returned.  He  was  between  Hazel  Grove  and  Fair- 
view.  At  midnight  the  cannon  flamed  once  more,  and  under  its  cover 
Ward's  brigade  charged  into  the  woods  and  drove  the  Confederates  from 
their  position,  but  in  turn  were  driven. 

We  are  not  to  think  that  General  Lee,  with  Anderson's  and  McLaws's 
divisions,  east  of  Chancellorsville,  was  sucking  his  thumbs  from  five  o'clock 
in  the  afternoon  till  midnight.  On  the  contrary,  his  artillery  had  been 
making  a  great  uproar,  making  believe  that  he  was  going  to  attack  with 
great  vigor.  He  waited  quietly  till  he  heard  the  roar  of  battle  at  Dow- 
dall's,  and  then  issued  his  orders.  He  says :  "  As  soon  as  the  sound  of 
cannon  gave  notice  of  Jackson's  attack,  our  troops  in  front  of  Chancellors 
ville  were  ordered  to  press  strongly  the  left,  to  prevent  reinforcements  be 
ing  sent  to  the  point  assailed.  They  were  directed  not  to  attack  in  force 
unless  a  favorable  opportunity  should  present  itself.  These  orders  were 
well  executed,  our  troops  advancing  to  the  enemy's  intrenchments,  while 
several  batteries  played  with  good  effect  until  prevented  by  increasing 
darkness." 

The  Union  artillery  replied.  The  threatening  appearance  of  Anderson 
and  McLaws  prevented  Hooker  from  sending  any  of  the  troops  westward 
to  confront  Jackson. 

Through  the  night  Lee  made  his  preparations  to  attack  Hooker,  lay 
ing  new  plans  to  meet  the  changed  condition  of  affairs.  Through  the 
night  Hooker  was  also  laying  new  plans.  General  Warren  rode  to  Fal- 


146 


MARCHING  TO  VICTORY. 


mouth  with  a  message  to  General  Sedgwick  to  cross  the  river  at  once  and 
inarch  up  the  Chancellorsville  road. 

"  You  will  probably,"  read  the  order,  "  fall  upon  the  rear  of  the  forces 
commanded  by  General  Lee,  and,  between  you  and  the  Major-general 
commanding,  he  expects  to  use  him  up.  Send  word  to  General  Gibbon 
to  take  possession  of  Fredericksburg.  Be  sure  not  to  fail." 

The  moon  was  full.  Through  the  night  it  had  looked  down  upon  the 
two  armies  gathered  in  the  budding  forest,  fragrant  with  green  foliage  and 
opening  flowers  ;  upon  wounded  men  and  lifeless  forms.  There  had  been 


CHANCELLORSVILLE  HOUSE. 

From  a  photograph,  taken  May,  1884.    It  was  of  brick,  aud  was  burned  during  the  war,  but  the  walls 
are  the  same.    Several  canuou-balls  remain  in  the  walls. 

little  sleep  in  either  army.  Till  two  o'clock  in  the  morning  the  cannon 
flamed  and  muskets  flashed,  and  long  lines  of  men  swayed  to  and  fro 
across  the  fields  and  through  the  woods ;  but  at  that  hour  the  lips  of  the 
cannon  were  allowed  to  cool,  and  the  wearied  soldiers  threw  themselves 
upon  the  last  year's  dead  leaves  to  rest  a  while  before  the  renewal  of  the 
conflict. 

General  Hooker,  from  the  outset,  determined  to  fight  a  defensive  bat 
tle.  All  of  his  plans  had  been  overturned  by  his  own  mistakes  and  his 
misconception  of  the  meaning  of  Jackson's  movement.  The  crushing  of 
the  Eleventh  Corps,  the  sending  of  Sickles  to  attack  the  rear  of  Jackson, 
had  placed  the  army  in  a  false  position.  The  ground  at  Tally's  was  a 
commanding  position,  but  he  had  lost  it.  The  ridge  at  Dowdall's  over- 


BATTLE   OF   CHANCELLORSVILLE.  147 

looked  a  wide  sweep  of  country;  but  he  had  been  obliged  to  give  it  up. 
General  Sickles  was  at  Hazel  Grove  —  a  very  strong  position  —  higher 
ground  than  that  at  Fairview  and  Chancellorsville ;  but  he  must  retire  from 
it  because  it  was  too  far  out  from  the  main  line. 

It  was  four  o'clock  in  the  morning  when  Whipple's  division  started 
from  Hazel  Grove  for  Fairview.  Birney  followed.  Graham's  brigade 
was  the  last  to  leave.  It  was  five  o'clock  before  the  Confederates  discov 
ered  the  movement.  Stuart's  troops  were  cooking  their  coffee,  and  General 
Stuart  was  changing  his  line.  He  did  not  intend  to  begin  the  battle  so 
early,  but  his  soldiers  were  burning  to  avenge  the  loss  of  Jackson,  and 
opened  fire.  General  Graham  was  cool.  "  About  face  !  take  aim  !  fire !" 
was  his  order,  and  a  volley  crashed  upon  the  morning  air,  followed  by 
the  thunder  of  Huntington's  guns.  It  was  so  prompt  and  effectual  that 
the  Confederates  were  held  in  check,  and  Graham  moved  on  to  Fair- 
view. 

General  Hooker  saw  that  he  must  fight  a  battle  at  a  disadvantage  or 
retire  to  a  new  line  in  rear  of  Chancellorsville.  The  engineers  laid  out 
the  line  three-quarters  of  a  mile  north  of  Chancellorsville,  from  the 
u  White  House" — Mr.  Bullock's  residence — along  Mineral  Spring  Run, 
north-east  to  the  Rappahannock,  and  north-west  to  the  Rapidan.  The 
pioneers  threw  up  breastworks.  It  was  a  very  strong  position,  but  Gen 
eral  Hooker,  instead  of  retreating  to  it,  resolved  to  hold  the  ground  at 
Fairview  and  Chancellorsville.  He  would  remain  where  he  was  till  Sedg- 
wick,  from  Fredericksburg,  could  have  time  to  fall  upon  Lee's  rear.  He 
expected  to  hear  the  thunder  of  Sedgwick's  guns  at  sunrise  and  to  see 
confusion  in  Lee's  ranks. 

Beginning  now  on  Little  Hunting  Run,  a  mile  north-west  of  Chancel 
lorsville,  we  see  the  First  Corps,  under  Reynolds,  facing  south-west,  with 
no  Confederate  troops  in  front  excepting  scattered  cavalrymen. 

Walking  south-east  along  the  road  towards  the  White  House,  we  see 
Sykes's  division,  extending  to  Mr.  Bullock's.  The  Mineral  Spring  road 
turns  north-east  here,  and  we  see  the  Fifth  Corps,  under  Meade,  and  the 
Eleventh  Corps,  along  the  road,  extending  to  the  river,  the  troops  facing 
south-east.  These  three  corps  are  on  the  new  line ;  they  will  take  no  part 
in  the  impending  battle. 

Two  roads  lead  from  the  White  House — one  south-west  three-quarters 
of  a  mile  to  the  turnpike,  the  other  a  little  east  of  south  three-fourths  of  a 
mile  to  Chancellorsville. 

Going  down  the  first,  we  come  to  Berry's  division,  holding  the  right 
of  the  troops  which  are  to  take  part  in  the  conflict.  He  is  in  the  woods, 


148  MARCHING  TO  VICTORY. 

three-fourths  of  a  mile  west  of  Chancellorsville,  and  the  left  of  his  divis 
ion  reaches  to  the  junction  of  the  two  roads.  The  next  division  in  line  is 
Williams's,  of  the  Twelfth  Corps.  These  troops  face  west,  and  are  on 
the  ground  which  they  occupied  at  sunset  when  Jackson  was  sweeping  on 
from  Dowdall's  and  stopped  his  advance.  Williams's  troops  are  a  quarter 
of  a  mile  west  of  Fairview,  lying  behind  intrenchments ;  Best's  artillery 
is  on  the  crest  at  Fairview,  with  Franklin's  brigade  behind  it;  Berdan's 
sharp-shooters  are  in  front  of  the  infantry;  on  the  turnpike  are  two  of 
Dimmick's  cannon  pointing  towards  Dowdall's ;  Mott's  brigade  of  New 
Jersey  troops  is  in  reserve  in  rear  of  Williams's  right;  on  the  turnpike, 
half-way  to  Chancellorsville,  is  the  remainder  of  Whipple's  troops. 

Going  to  the  left  of  Williams,  on  the  southern  slope  of  Fairview,  we 
come  to  Geary's  division  of  the  Twelfth  Corps,  with  Birney,  of  the  Third 
Corps,  behind  it.  We  have  turned  a  sharp  angle.  Geary  and  Birney  face 
south-east.  Standing  at  the  angle  and  looking  south-west  we  see  Hazel 
Grove — a  farm-house — cleared  fields — half  a  mile  away;  the  ground  much 
higher  than  Fairview.  Sickles  has  just  abandoned  it,  and  there  at  sunrise 
are  five  Confederate  batteries  of  artillery — thirty  cannon — being  placed 
in  position  by  Major  Walker.  His  solid  shot  and  shell  will  soon  come 
tearing  along  the  Union  lines,  enfilading  Williams  and  Geary  alike. 

From  Chancellorsville  eastward  are  the  plank  road  and  turnpike. 
Geary's  line  extends  to  the  plank  i^ad,  and  there  connects  with  Hancock's 
division,  which  runs  along  the  plank  road  a  quarter  of  a  mile,,  crosses  it, 
then  turns  sharply  north  to  the  turnpike,  crossing  it  and  reaching  to  Min 
eral  Spring  Kun.  Hancock's  right  wing  faces  south-west,  while  those  on 
the  left  face  east. 

Seemingly  it  was  a  great  mistake  to  withdraw  Sickles.  In  battle  it  is 
of  the  utmost  importance  to  break  the  enemy's  line.  Lee  had  divided  his 
army  voluntarily.  He  had  struck  a  telling  blow,  but  Sickles  had  made  a 
movement  which  would  compel  him  to  fight  henceforth  with  a  divided 
army.  Hazel  Grove  was  on  high  ground — a  commanding,  position.  Most 
of  Stuart's  troops  were  facing  east,  but  he  had  been  obliged  to  face  some 
of  them  south,  towards  Hazel  Grove,  to  front  Sickles.  Now,  going  up 
north  of  Berry's  division,  we  see  the  First  Corps,  with  Sykes's  division 
of  the  Fifth  (fresh  troops),  which  might  be  flung  upon  Stuart's  left  flank 
while  Berry  and  Williams  held  him  in  front.  Such  a  movement  would 
double  Stuart  up,  just  as  Jackson  crushed  Howard. 

Going  now  over  to  the  other  side,  we  find  Meade  with  two  divisions 
and  Howard,  with  the  Eleventh  Corps  in  position  to  swing  round  upon 
Lee's  right  flank — just  in  the  right  position  to  co-operate  with  Sedgwick, 


BATTLE   OF  CHANCELLORSVILLE.  149 

whose  guns  will  soon  be  heard  in  the  direction  of  Fredericksburg,  driving 
Barksdale. 

Seemingly  such  movements  would  have  resulted  in  a  crown  of  victory 
for  the  Union  armies,  for  it  would  have  given  Hooker  a  chance  to  have 
employed  the  whole  of  his  army  instead  of  one-third  of  it.  He  had  eighty 
thousand  men,  in  round  numbers,  against  forty-five  thousand  Confederates. 

General  Stuart  saw  the  Union  troops  abandoning  a  commanding  posi 
tion  at  Hazel  Grove.  A  few  minutes  later  his  artillery  was  galloping  up 
the  slope  and  wheeling  into  line.  He  says,  "As  the  sun  lifted  the  mist 
that  shrouded  the  field  it  was  discovered  that  the  extreme  right  was  a  fine 
position  for  concentrating  artillery.  I  immediately  ordered  thirty  pieces 
to  that  point.  The  effect  of  the  fire  upon  the  enemy's  batteries  was 
superb." 

Hazel  Grove  was  flaming  like  a  furnace,  and  the  Union  guns  at  Fair- 
view*  replying,  when  General  Heth,  commanding  Stuart's  front  line,  ad 
vanced  the  troops  of  McGowan  and  Lane  against  Williams.  Their  blood 
was  at  fever-heat  over  the  loss  of  their  great  leader.  "Jackson !  Jackson !" 
they  shouted,  as  they  rushed  to  the  attack. 

Jn  the  Union  line  the  Third  Maryland,  in  Knipe's  brigade,  held  the 
right  on  the  plank  road.  It  was  a  new  regiment,  and  this  was  its  first 
battle.  It  stood  its  ground  for  a  few  moments,  losing  one  hundred  men, 
and  then  gave  way.  When  the  dam  is  broken  the  water  passes  through, 
and  so  into  this  gap  rushed  the  Confederates  with  a  wild  hurrah,  a  portion 
striking  Berry's  left  flank,  and  also  folding  back  Williams. 

It  was  a  wise  forethought  that  placed  Mott's  Union  brigade  on  the 
plank  road  a  few  rods  in  rear  of  the  Maryland  troops. 

The  Confederates  rushed  upon  Dimmick's  battery,  shot  the  horses, 
and  seized  the  guns,  when  the  New  Jersey  brigade,  under  Mott,  threw 
themselves  into  the  breach.  It  was  a  fearful  hand-to-hand  struggle.  The 
prisoners  which  the  Confederates  had  taken  were  recaptured,  together  with 
nearly  one  thousand  Confederates.  The  Third  and  Seventh  New  Jersey 
regiments  captured  eight  battle-flags.  They  saved  the  cannon,  drawing 
them  back  by  hand.  So  powerful  was  the  charge  that  the  whole  Confed 
erate  line  fell  back,  and  the  cheers  of  the  men  in  blue  rang  out  upon  the 
morning  air.  Again  they  advanced  against  Berry,  and  again  were  driven. 

There  was  a  lull  in  the  storm  while  Stuart  reformed  his  lines. 
Nichols's,  Iverson's,  and  Rodes's  brigades  attacked  Berry,  who  was  every 
where  along  the  line  encouraging  his  men.  He  was  a  brave  officer.  Gen 
eral  Hooker  regarded  him  as  the  ablest  of  all  his  generals.  He  had  a  pre 
sentiment  that  this  was  to  be  his  last  battle — that  on  this  Sunday  he  was 


150  MARCHING  TO  VICTORY. 

to  lay  down  his  life  for  his  country.  The  fatal  bullet  was  fired,  and 
he  fell. 

General  Revere  was  next  in  command.  What  motive  actuated  him 
we  do  not  know ;  but  to  the  surprise  of  his  troops,  to  the  amazement  of 
all  the  officers  and  the  men,  he  ordered  his  own  brigade  to  the  rear.  Gen 
eral  Sickles  ordered  the  troops  to  return,  and  deprived  him  of  his  com 
mand.  He  was  court-martialed  after  the  battle,  and  dismissed  from  the 
army ;  but  the  kind-hearted  President,  Abraham  Lincoln,  allowed  him  to 
resign  instead. 

Colonel  Stevens  assumed  command,  but  only  to  be  shot  down  a  few 
moments  later.  General  Hayes,  with  a  brigade  of  French's  division,  was 
sent  to  support  Berry,  but  the  Confederates  made  a  charge  and  bore  him 
away  prisoner. 

With  Berry  gone,  with  no  competent  commander  to  direct  affairs,  the 
division,  after  a  struggle  of  two  hours,  was  obliged  to  fall  back  towards 
Chancellors  ville. 

Williams's  division  was  out  of  ammunition.  "  Cartridges !  Give  us 
cartridges !"  was  the  cry.  The  soldiers  gathered  up  the  boxes  of  their 
wounded  comrades,  but  their  fire  slackened.  The  retiring  of  Berry's 
troops  compelled  Williams  to  fall  back.  The  Confederates  were  elated 
with  their  success. 

General  Hooker  was  standing  on  the  piazza  of  Mr.  Chancellor's  house, 
the  shot  and  shells  falling  around  the  building.  A  solid  shot  struck  a 
pillar,  splitting  it,  and  throwing  a  piece  which  felled  him  to  the  ground. 
For  a  few  moments  he  was  unconscious.  He  was  laid  upon  a  blanket  and 
borne  to  the  rear.  A  moment  later  a  shot  tore  up  the  ground  where  he 
had  been  lying.  He  was  unable  to  issue  orders,  and  the  command  of  the 
army  fell  upon  General  Couch,  the  next  in  rank,  who  knew  nothing  of 
Hooker's  plans,  and  very  little  of  what  was  going  on,  or  what  ought  to  be 
done.  He  issued  no  orders.  Nor  was  General  Hooker  quite  willing  to 
yield  the  command.  Sickles  and  Williams,  of  the  Twelfth  Corps,  had 
been  bearing  the  brunt  of  the  battle,  which  was  raging  more  fiercely  than 
ever. 

In  Ruger's  brigade  of  Williams's  division  were  the  Second  Massachu 
setts,  Third  Wisconsin,  and  Twenty-seventh  Indiana.  In  front  of  them 
was  McGowan's  brigade  from  South  Carolina.  Three  times  the  Confed 
erates  rushed  upon  them.  Three  of  the  Confederate  color-bearers  fell  one 
after  the  other.  In  like  manner  three  in  the  Second  Massachusetts  went 
down.  The  Union  troops  were  out  of  ammunition,  but  they  stood  sullenly, 
with  fixed  bayonets,  holding  the  ground. 


BATTLE    OF   CHANCELLORS VILLE.  151 

Thus  far  we  have  seen  what  was  going  on  between  Sickles's  right  and 
Stuart.  Now  let  us  go  over  to  the  east  side  of  the  field.  We  are  not  to 
think  that  General  Lee  had  been  doing  nothing  all  the  morning;  on  the 
contrary,  Anderson's  troops  had  been  reaching  west  towards  Hazel  Grove, 
connecting  with  Stuart's,  and  now  they  were  pressing  against  Geary  and 
Hancock.  All  the  while  Hazel  Grove  was  smoking  like  a  volcano,  pour 
ing  such  a  destructive  fire  upon  the  Union  artillery  at  Fairview  and  upon 
the  Union  lines  that  General  Sickles  saw  he  could  not  hold  the  position. 
He  called  for  reinforcements,  but  they  did  not  come.  General  Hooker, 
stunned  and  almost  incapable  of  issuing  orders,  was  thinking  only  of  his 
stronger  line  in  the  rear.  To  that  he  resolved  to  retire. 

General  Sickles  withdrew  his  artillery  from  Fairview  towards  Chan- 
cellorsville,  and  the  infantry  to  the  breastworks  which  the  artillery  had 
vacated.  Lewis's,  Seeley's,  and  Randolph's  batteries  stayed  at  Fairview, 
while  the  others  galloped  to  the  rear.  The  Fifth  Maine  battery  took  posi 
tion  in  the  yard  around  the  house.  Seeley  had  lost  forty  horses.  "  Take 
off  the  harnesses.  Don't  let  the  enemy  have  them !"  he  shouted,  and 
though  the  shells  were  bursting  thick  and  fast  around  the  battery,  the 
drivers  gathered  up  the  harnesses,  heaped  them  upon  the  limbers,  and 
bore  them  triumphantly  to  the  rear — the  last  to  leave. 

Sickles's  and  Slocurn's  troops  retired  in  order,  forming  in  three  lines 
in  rear  of  Chancellorsville,  joining  Hancock.  The  Confederates  brought 
forward  their  cannon  to  Fairview,  and  to  the  edge  of  the  woods  south 
of  the  house,  and  rained  their  shells  upon  Chancellorsville,  setting  the 
house  on  fire. 

The  Confederates  fought  with  tremendous  energy ;  but  Stuart's  troops 
were  exhausted.  See  what  they  had  done.  It  was  midnight,  Thursday, 
when  they  started  from  near  Port  Royal  and  marched  twenty  miles  be 
fore  halting.  On  Saturday  morning  they  began  their  long  march  to  Dow- 
dall's.  On  Saturday  evening  they  rushed  upon  the  Eleventh  Corps  and 
fought  till  nine  o'clock.  They  had  had  no  breakfast ;  had  been  fighting 
since  daylight.  They  had  struck  a  great  blow  and  won  a  victory ;  but 
their  lines  were  now  disorganized — divisions,  brigades,  and  regiments  con 
fused.  They  had  lost  many  men.  Though  exhausted,  the  lines  were  re 
formed,  and  ammunition  distributed. 

The  Union  troops  are  behind  the  breastworks  of  the  new  line.  The 
woods  are  thick,  and  there  are  not  many  places  where  artillery  can  be  used  ; 
but  General  Hunt,  commanding  the  artillery,  has  massed  thirty  pieces  un 
der  Captain  Randolph,  forty-eight  near  the  White  House,  under  Captain 
Weed,  and  thirty-two  under  Colonel  Wainwright,  to  sweep  the  approaches. 


152  MARCHING   TO   VICTORY. 

General  Colston,  commanding  A.  P.  Hill's  division,  is  selected  to  lead. 
It  is  three  o'clock  when  he  advances.  He  has  four  brigades — Nichols's 
and  his  own  east  of  the  road  leading  to  United  States  Ford,  Jones's  and 
Paxton's  west  of  it. 

He  orders  a  battery  of  Napoleon  guns  into  position,  which  opens  fire, 
but  almost  instantly — in  less  than  two  minutes — fifty  officers  and  men  are 
stricken  down  by  the  terrific  fire  of  the  Union  guns. 

The  line  advances,  but  it  is  instantly  cut  through  and  through  by  the 
shells.  It  is  impossible  to  face  such  a  storm,  and  the  men  retreat  in  con 
fusion,  leaving  the  ground  thickly  strewn  with  killed  and  wounded.  Gen 
eral  Lee  sees  that  Hooker  at  last  is  upon  ground  which  cannot  be  assailed. 

Out  in  the  woods  west  of  Chancellorsville  there  was  a  terrible  scene. 
The  woods  were  on  fire,  the  flames  running  in  the  last  year's  leaves.  A 
wail  of  agony  went  up  from  the  wounded  as  the  flames  curled  around 
them.  Union  men  as  well  as  Confederates  were  lying  there.  The  Confed 
erates  hastened  to  save  them,  but  many  were  burned  to  death  before  they 
could  be  rescued. 

They  had  fought  the  Union  men,  but  in  this  hour  of  dire  calamity  hu 
manity  triumphed,  and  won  a  greater  victory  than  that  achieved  OH  the 
slopes  of  Fairview. 

General  Sedgwick,  with  the  Sixth  Army  Corps  of  Union  troops,  was 
opposite  Fredericksburg ;  also  a  division  of  the  Second  Corps,  commanded 
by  General  Gibbon.  Mr.  Lowe  was  there  with  a  balloon  tethered  to  a  rope, 
which  was  loosened,  and  Mr.  Lowe  went  up  so  high  that  he  could  look 
down  upon  the  Confederates  behind  the  breastworks  on  the  heights  of 
Fredericksburg,  and  count  the  number  of  cannon  still  there.  He  could 
see  the  troops  which  Lee  had  left  under  the  command  of  General  Early. 

On  Saturday  afternoon,  just  as  Stonewall  Jackson  was  looking  down 
from  the  hill  south  of  Mr.  Tally's  house  upon  the  troops  of  the  Eleventh 
Corps,  and  laying  his  plans  to  attack  them,  General  Sedgwick  received 
this  despatch  from  General  Hooker : 

"  We  know  that  the  enemy  is  flying,  trying  to  save  his  trains ;  two  of 
Sickles's  divisions  are  among  them."  A  few  minutes  later  came  a  second  : 
"  The  major-general  commanding  directs  you  to  pursue  the  enemy  by  the 
Bowling  Green  road." 

General  Sedgwick  had  already  laid  a  pontoon  bridge  across  the  river, 
and  in  the  evening  the  troops  under  his  command  crossed.  At  eleven 
o'clock  Saturday  night  he  received  an  order  to  push  on  towards  Chancel 
lorsville.  "  You  will  probably  fall,"  read  the  order,  "  upon  the  rear  of  the 
forces  commanded  by  General  Lee,  and  between  us  we  will  use  them  up." 


BATTLE   OF  CHANCELLORSV1LLE.  155 

The  despatch  was  sent  from  Chancellorsville  at  ten  o'clock  in  the  even 
ing,  when  the  disaster  to  the  Eleventh  Corps  was  fully  known.  A  few 
moments  later  General  Warren,  of  the  engineers,  sent  by  Hooker,  arrived 
and  informed  Sedgwick  of  all  that  had  happened  at  Dowdall's. 

The  moon  was  full,  but  a  dense  fog  hung  over  Fredericksburg,  and  the 
troops  under  Sedgwick  moved  slowly  towards  the  town.  Day  was  break 
ing  when  the  skirmishers  drove  the  Confederate  pickets  through  the  town. 
The  people  were  astonished  to  find  the  Union  troops  once  more  swarming 
through  the  streets. 

General  Early  had  about  nine  thousand  Confederate  troops.  Barks- 
dale's  and  Hays's  brigades  held  the  heights.  Wilcox's  brigade  arrived  also 
from  Banks's  Ford.  General  Pendleton  commanded  the  artillery. 

General  Sedgwick  placed  Gibbon's  division  on  the  right,  above  the 
town,  Newton's  in  front  of  Marye's  Hill,  Howe's  division  at  the  lower  end 
of  the  town,  and  Brooks's  division  in  reserve. 

It  was  half-past  five  when  Shaler's  brigade,  in  reconnoitring,  found  that 
the  bridges  across  the  canal  between  the  town  and  Marye's  Hill  had  been 
taken  up,  and  that  General  Pendleton  had  his  cannon  aimed  to  hurl  shells 
upon  any  party  attempting  to  reconstruct  them.  The  artillery  on  both 
sides  opened  fire. 

"Take  planks  and  timbers  from  the  nearest  buildings "(9)  was  Gibbon's 
order  to  the  pioneers,  who  tore  down  some  barns  and  sheds  ;  but  those  who 
attempted  to  lay  the  timbers  were  swept  away  by  the  Confederate  artillery. 

General  Newton  was  an  engineer,  and  believed  that  the  bridge  could 
be  built  and  the  heights  carried.  At  his  suggestion  Sedgwick  extended 
his  lines  right  and  left,  which  compelled  Early  to  extend  his,  greatly 
reducing  the  number  of  men  holding  the  grounds  around  Mr.  Marye's 
house.  While  this  was  being  done  two  columns  of  Union  troops  were 
forming  in  the  streets  of  the  town,  concealed  by  the  houses  from  the 
Confederates.  They  were  to  be  storming  parties  —  to  rush  up  the  two 
roads  and  penetrate  the  Confederate  line.  The  troops  in  line  of  battle 
were  to  move  simultaneously  with  the  columns.  The  theory  of  the  attack 
was  that  either  the  lines  or  the  columns  would  succeed  in  gaining  the 
heights.  Colonel  Shaler  commanded  the  right  column  of  four  regiments, 
Colonel  Johns  the  left,  consisting  of  two  regiments.  Gibbon's  division 
and  Eustis's  brigade  had  the  right  of  the  line,  Burnham's  brigade  the  cen 
tre,  to  rush  towards  the  sunken  road  ("Drum-beat  of  the  Nation,"  battle 
of  Fredericksburg)  while  Howe's  division  and  Wheaton's  brigade  were  to 
make  believe  they  were  going  to  sweep  up  Hazel  Run.  The  columns 
were  to  go  upon  the  run  four  soldiers  abreast. 


156  MARCHING  TO  VICTORY. 

It  was  ten  minutes  past  eleven  when  the  signal  was  given.  The  bridges 
had  been  rebuilt.  The  column  under  Colonel  Johns  was  on  the  telegraph 
road.  The  men  came  down  a  hill  to  the  canal.  Instantly  the  Confederate 
cannon  flamed,  and  the  sunken  road  was  white  with  the  smoke  of  the 
Confederate  muskets.  The  men  in  blue  were  upon  the  run.  Some  went 
down — Colonel  Johns  among  them.  For  a  moment  the  head  of  the  col 
umn  faltered.  "On!  on!  on!"(10)  was  the  shout  from  those  behind.  Their 
blood  was  up.  The  fog  had  cleared  away,  and  the  May  sun  gleamed  from 
their  bayonets  as  they  rushed  up  the  hill  past  the  Confederates  in  the 
sunken  road,  eager  to  seize  their  cannon  at  the  top  of  the  hill. 

0h  the  turnpike  two  Confederate  howitzers  rain  canister  tfpon  the 
advancing  column,  but  the  men  in  blue  charge  upon  them.  The  men  of 
Howe's  division,  who  were  to  make  only  a  feint,  catch  the  enthusiasm  and 
climb  the  steep  hill-side,  sweeping  all  before  them.  Up  over  the  field 
where  Sumner's  troops  were  slaughtered  in  December  rush  the  men  of 
Burnliam's  brigade,  charging  upon  the  Confederates  in  the  sunken  road. 
It  is  the  work  of  fifteen  minutes.  One  thousand  men  have  fallen,  but  the 
Stars  and  Stripes  are  waving  in  triumph  on  Marye's  Hill,  and  the  Confed 
erates  are  fleeing,  leaving  four  cannon  behind  them. 

Three  miles  out  from  Marye's  stands  Salem  Church,  a  plain  brick 
building,  with  a  grove  of  oaks  and  a  thicket  eastward,  where  beneath  the 
shade  of  the  trees  the  people  on  Sunday  tether  their  horses.  Westward  is 
an  open  field  and  a  farm-house.  Beneath  the  oaks,  a  short  distance  east  of 
the  church,  was  a  log  school-house.  The  ground  descends  rapidly  towards 
Fredericksburg.  General  Lee  had  seen  the  strength  of  the  position,  and 
had  constructed  a  line  of  intrenchments  past  the  church,  behind  which 
the  retreating  Confederates  halted.  Here  he  learned  of  what  had  taken 
place  at  Fredericksburg.  The  battle  of  Chancellorsville  was  over;  he  had 
driven  Hooker  from  his  chosen  position,  and  now  sent  a  portion  of  his 
troops  to  aid  in  turning  back  Sedgwick,  who,  after  having  carried  Marye's 
Heights,  moved  very  slowly,  waiting  to  place  Brooks's  division  in  front.  It 
was  between  four  and  five  o'clock  when  Brooks  advanced.  Sedgwick  did 
not  know  that  Mahone's  brigade  and  McLaws's  division  of  Anderson's 
corps  had  reached  the  church.  He  did  not  know  that  the  Confederates 
were  behind  a  line  of  intrenchments.  Bartlett's  Union  brigade  was  south 
of  the  road,  Torbet's  north  of  it,  Russell's  in  rear.  Newton's  division  was 
on  the  right  of  Brooks's.  Brooks's  troops  advanced  through  the  thickets 
to  the  school-house.  Instantly  a  storm  burst  upon  them  from  the  win 
dows  of  school-house  and  church,  from  the  breastwork,  from  muskets  and 
cannon.  A  company  of  the  Ninth  Alabama  is  in  the  school-house ;  the 


BATTLE   OF   CHANCELLORSVILLE. 


157 


remainder  of  the  regiment  is  in  the  church,  which  is  a  fort  for  the  time 
being. 

Bartlett's  brigade  charges  upon  the  school-house,  and  the  Alabamians 
throw  down  their  guns  in  token  of  surrender.  The  Union  line  goes  on 
up  to  the  church.  The  Union  bullets  flatten  against  the  walls.  The  win 
dows  are  high,  and  the  Confederates  pour  a  deadly  fire  upon  the  men  in 
blue,  who  are  obliged  to  fall  back.  They  have  not  sent  the  prisoners  in 
the  school -house  to  the  rear,  and  the  Alabamians  again  pick  up  their 


SALEM   CHURCH. 


guns,  and  engage  once  more  in  battle.    The  other  Confederates  follow,  but 
are  swept  back  by  the  Union  artillery. 

The  battle  was  over.  General  Sedgwick  prepared  for  the  morrow, 
abandoning  his  connection  with  Fredericksburg,  and  opening  communica 
tion  with  Hooker  by  Banks's  Ford.  When  he  advanced  upon  Marye's 
Heights,  General  Early,  with  six  thousand  Confederate  troops,  was  at  Ham 
ilton's  Crossing  protecting  the  supplies  for  Lee's  army  accumulated  at  that 
point.  He  made  his  way  west,  and  during  the  night  once  more  took  pos 
session  of  Marye's  Heights,  to  capture  which  had  cost  so  many  valuable 
lives.  Had  Sedgwick  not  been  called  back  by  Hooker  when  he  advanced 
towards  Hamilton's  on  Saturday  night,  it  is  quite  probable  that  he  would 


158  MARCHING   TO    VICTORY. 

have  defeated  Early,  captured  or  destroyed  the  supplies  of  Lee,  and  com 
pelled  him  to  fall  back  towards  Richmond ;  but,  called  back  by  Hooker  and 
ordered  to  attack  Marye's  Heights,  he  had  obeyed.  Lee,  having  driven 
Hooker  from  Chancellorsville,  decided  to  go  with  Anderson's  division  to 
Salem  Church,  leaving  Stuart  with  Jackson's  and  Hill's  corps  to  make  a 
show  and  demonstration  in  front  of  Hooker,  but  not  to  renew  the  battle. 
This  the  situation  on  Monday  morning :  In  Fredericksburg  two  thou 
sand  Union  troops,  with  Sedgwick's  wounded,  holding  the  town  and  the 
bridge.  On  Marye's  Heights  six  thousand  Confederate  troops  under  Early, 
ready  to  pounce  upon  Gibbon  or  to  act  against  Sedgwick,  who  is  in  front 
of  Salem  Church,  three  miles  west,  with  sixteen  thousand,  confronted  by 
Lee  with  twenty-five  thousand  Confederates,  which,  joined  with  Early,  will 
outnumber  Sedgwick  two  to  one.  Eight  miles  west  of  Salem  Church  was 
Stuart  with  the  remainder  of  the  Confederate  army,  not  exceeding  twenty 
thousand,  making  a  demonstration  by  artillery,  by  picket-firing,  against 
Hooker  with  between  sixty  and  seventy  thousand,  but  who  is  wholly  in  the 
dark  as  to  the  movements  of  Lee,  and  who  does  nothing. 

Not  till  six  o'clock  on  Monday  evening  was  Lee  ready  to  attack  Sedg 
wick,  who  had  swung  round  towards  Banks's  Ford,  where  a  pontoon 
bridge  had  been  laid  by  the  engineers.  Early  led  the  attack,  but  was 
repulsed  with  a  loss  of  about  fifteen  hundred  men.  General  Lee  saw  that 
he  could  not  dislodge  Sedgwick  without  suffering  great  loss,  and  did  not 
renew  the  attack.  General  Sedgwick  saw  that  his  line  was  too  much  ex 
tended,  and  fell  back  towards  the  river. 

"  Withdraw  across  the  river,"  was  the  order  received  by  Sedgwick 
from  Hooker  at  one  o'clock. 

When  daylight  came,  Sedgwick  was  on  the  northern  bank,  and  Gib 
bon,  with  the  wounded,  was  back  once  more  on  the  Falmouth  Hills.  Gen 
eral  Hooker  called  his  corps  commanders  together.  What  should  be  done  ? 
He  was  in  a  strong  position,  but  no  advantage  would  be  gained  by  remain 
ing,  and  it  was  decided  that  the  army  should  retreat.  There  had  been  rain 
in  the  mountains,  and  the  water  was  rising.  The  engineers  were  compelled 
to  take  up  one  bridge  to  piece  out  the  other.  At  sunset  the  troops  took 
up  their  line  of  march.  General  Lee,  through  his  spies,  knew  what  was 
going  on  ;  he  did  not  attempt  to  hinder  it.  His  cannon  were  silent,  for  he 
had  little  ammunition  left.  On  Tuesday  morning  the  Union  army  was 
on  the  north  bank  of  the  river,  having,  including  prisoners,  lost  nearly 
seventeen  thousand  men,  while  the  loss  of  the  Confederates  was  not  far 
from  thirteen  thousand.  Nothing  had  been  gained  by  Hooker,  while  the 
Confederates  could  justly  regard  it  as  a  brilliant  victory. 


BATTLE   OF   CHANCELLORSVILLE.  159 

General  Hooker  has  been  condemned  for  his  course  of  action  at  Chan- 
cellorsville,  but  there  are  many  things  to  be  taken  into  account  if  we 
would  arrive  at  just  conclusions.  His  strategy  in  reaching  Chancellorsville, 
blinding  Lee  as  to  his  real  movement,  has  been  regarded  as  exceedingly 
able.  His  falling  back  from  Tabernacle  Church  to  Chancellorsville  was 
seemingly  a  mistake  in  tactics.  With  only  a  handful  of  cavalry  left,  after 
the  departure  of  Stoneman,  he  could  obtain  no  certain  information  as  to 
the  movements  of  Lee.  His  hasty  conclusion  that  the  movement  of  Jack- 
eon  across  his  front  was  a  retreat  of  the  Confederate  army  to  Gordonsville, 
adopted  by  Hooker  and  his  generals  alike,  was  an  astounding  error  of  judg 
ment.  The  disregard  paid  to  the  reports  of  the  scouts  and  pickets  that 
Jackson  was  moving  to  gain  the  flank  of  the  Eleventh  Corps  is  equally 
unaccountable.  It  is  not  difficult  to  account  for  the  inaction  of  Hooker 
after  his  prostration  by  the  piece  of  a  pillar  of  the  Chancellorsville  pi 
azza,  which  hurled  him  to  the  ground,  stunning  him  and  so  benumbing 
his  senses  that  several  days  passed  before  he  fully  regained  them.  He  was 
incapacitated  from  exercising  the  judgment  needful  in  battle.  More  than 
this,  he  had  intended  from  the  outset  to  gain  a  strong  position  and  fight  a 
defensive  battle.  He  had  not  contemplated  for  a  moment  the  taking  of 
the  aggressive,  and  it  is  now  known  that  President  Lincoln  said  to  him, 
when  he  placed  Hooker  in  command,  "  Whatever  you  do,  do  not  lose  the 
Army  of  the  Potomac."  With  these  considerations  in  view  we  can  under 
stand  why  the  army  stood  motionless  behind  its  intrenchments  through 
Monday,  when  by  a  simultaneous  advance  Stuart,  with  what  was  left  of 
Jackson's  troops,  might  have  been  swept  from  the  field  of  Chancellors 
ville.  But  it  was  not  in  the  ordering  of  events  by  Him  who  notices  the 
fall  of  a  sparrow,  who  guides  nations  to  their  destiny. 


NOTES  TO  CHAPTER  VIII. 

( *)  Mr.  Tally  to  author. 

( 2)  Idem. 

( 3)  General  Howard,  Century  Magazine,  September,  1886. 
(  4)  "History  of  the  Eighth  Pennsylvania  Cavalry." 

(  5)  General  Pleasonton,O?ita?-#  Magazine,  September,  1886. 

( 6)  Major  Thomson's  letter,  quoted  in  Century  Magazine,  September,  1886, 

( 7)  Dabney,  "Life  of  Jackson." 

( 8)  John  Esten  Cooke. 

( 9)  General  Gibbon  to  author. 

(10)  General  Newton  to  author. 


160  MARCHING  TO   VICTORY. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

SPRING  OF  1863. 

WE  approach  the  turning-point  in  the  great  struggle.  The  months  of 
May  and  June,  1863,  will  .ever  stand  as  the  most  critical  in  the  his 
tory  of  the  mighty  conflict.  General  Grant  had  begun  his  movement  to 
gain  the  rear  of  Yicksburg ;  General  Banks  was  closing  around  Port  Hud 
son — movements  which  were  designed  to  open  once  more  the  Mississippi 
to  the  peaceful  commerce  of  the  world,  severing  Arkansas,  Louisiana,  and 
Texas  from  the  other  States  of  the  Confederacy. 

In  Tennessee  the  Army  of  the  Cumberland,  under  General  Rosecrans, 
was  preparing  to  move  against  the  Confederates  under  General  Bragg  at 
Tullahoma. 

The  Army  of  the  Potomac  was  upon  the  Falrnouth  Hills,  opposite 
Fredericksburg.  Fifteen  thousand  soldiers,  whose  term  of  enlistment  had 
expired,  were  returning  to  their  homes.  Including  the  losses  at  Chancel- 
lorsville  and  those  in  the  hospitals,  thirty  thousand  had  disappeared  from 
the  ranks.  A  portion  of  the  loss  had  been  made  good  by  the  arrival  of 
new  troops,  but  they  were  not  the  veterans  who  had  fought  in  a  score  of 
battles.  The  many  defeats  on  the  Peninsula,  at  Manassas,  Fredericksburg, 
and  Chancellors ville  had  had  a  manifest  effect  upon  the  spirits  of  the 
army.  The  soldiers  knew  that  they  had  fought  bravely,  but  had  suffered 
defeat  through  the  mismanagement  at  Washington  and  incompetency  of 
their  commanderSo  They  had  lost  none  of  their  love  for  the  flag,  which 
represented  all  that  was  dear  to  them  in  life. 

The  Confederates  encamped  upon  the  hills  behind  Fredericksburg 
were  exultant  over  the  victories  they  had  won,  and  had  good  cause  for 
swinging  their  hats  and  hurrahing,  to  feel  that  they  were  invincible,  and 
could  win  a  victory  against  great  odds ;  that  General  Lee  was  a  great 
commander,  who  would  lead  them  ever  to  victory.  They  were  sad  over 
the  death  of  Stonewall  Jackson,  and  felt  that  the  loss  was  irreparable. 
New  conscripts  were  arriving  by  the  thousand  to  fill  up  the  ranks.  Long- 
street's  corps  had  returned  from  Suffolk.  The  spirits  of  the  troops  never 


SPRING  OF  1863.  161 

had  been  so  high.  The  people  of  the  South  believed  that  the  army  under 
General  Lee  could  not  be  defeated.  The  Richmond  Examiner  had  this 
relative  to  the  military  strength  of  the  Confederacy :  "  It  never  was  more 
ample  than  now.  We  have  arms  for  one  million  soldiers.  We  have  from 
six  hundred  to  six  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  effective  men.  The  State 
militia  will  give  two  hundred  thousand  more.  These  figures  are  au 
thentic.'^) 

It  advocated  offensive  operations  by  General  Lee.  The  time  was  pro 
pitious.  The  Union  army  would  lose  in  all  sixty  or  seventy  regiments. 
The  Union  troops  were  discouraged.  "  No  treaty  of  peace  is  possible  save 
one  signed  on  the  enemy's  soil,"  it  said. 

General  Longstreet,  the  first  week  in  May,  was  in  Richmond,  and  called 
upon  Mr.  Seddon,  Secretary  of  War. 

"  I  have  a  plan,"  said  Mr.  Seddon,  "  for  sending  your  troops  west  to 
Mississippi  to  join  Johnston  and  attack  Grant,  who  is  laying  siege  to  Yicks- 
burg.  What  do  you  think  of  it  ?" 

"  I  think  that  there  is  a  better  way  to  relieve  Pemberton  by  bringing 
the  troops  under  Johnston  to  Tullahoma,  and  to  hurry  forward  two  of  my 
divisions.  With  these  troops  Bragg  can  crush  Rosecrans;  then  he  can 
march  through  Tennessee  and  Kentucky,  and  threaten  the  invasion  of 
Ohio.  He  will  have  no  opposition,  and  will  find  provisions  everywhere. 
The  result  will  be  the  withdrawal  of  Grant  from  Yicksburg  to  head  off 
Bragg."0 

General  Longstreet  went  on  to  Fredericksburg  and  talked  the  matter 
over  with  General  Lee. 

"  To  take  away  your  corps  will  divide  my  army,"  said  General  Lee. 

No  commander  likes  to  have  his  troops  taken  away  from  him.  It,  is 
human  nature  for  us  to  desire  to  wield  all  possible  power.  General  Lee 
was  thinking  of  a  plan.  He  knew  that  Hooker's  army  was  growing 
smaller,  that  regiments  were  leaving,  and  that  others  were  not  taking 
their  places.  It  was  hardly  to  be  expected  that  Hooker,  after  the  defeat 
of  Chancellorsville,  would  make  any  movement.  What  should  be  done  ? 
A  victorious  army  after  a  great  victory  cannot  sit  down  and  do  nothing 
without  loss  of  prestige.  If  Lee  could  drive  Hooker  back  to  Falmouth, 
what  could  he  not  do  with  forty  thousand  additional  troops  ? 

"  Why  not  invade  Pennsylvania  ?"  General  Lee  asked.  . 

"  Such  a  movement,"  said  Longstreet;  "  can  be  successful  if  made  offen 
sive  in  strategy  but  defensive  in  tactics." 

By  that  he  intended  to  say  that  if  Lee  should  select  his  line  of  march, 
and  the  country  he  intended  to  occupy,  and  when  it  came  to  a  battle  to 
11 


162  MARCHING   TO   VICTORY. 

select  his  ground  and  wait  to  be  attacked,  he  would  be  successful.  "  The 
movement,"  he  added,  "  into  Pennsylvania  will  make  a  great  stir  in  the 
North,  and  Hooker  will  be  compelled  to  attack  you  on  your  chosen  ground. 
You  remember  Napoleon's  advice  to  Marmont :  *  Select  your  ground  and 
make  your  enemy  attack  you.'  At  Fredericksburg  we  held  Burnside  with 
a  few  thousand  men,  crippling  and  demoralizing  his  army,  while  we  lost 
very  few.  At  Chancellorsville  we  attacked,  and  Hooker  was  on  the  de 
fensive.  We  dislodged  him,  but  at  such  a  terrible  sacrifice  that  half  a 
dozen  such  victories  would  have  ruined  us." 

There  were  many  reasons  why  General  Lee  should  make  a  movement 
somewhere,  and  especially  why  he  should  invade  Pennsylvania. 

The  war  from  the  beginning,  except  the  battle  of  Antietam,  had  been 
in  the  seceded  States,  where  the  hostile  armies  had  marched  to  and  fro, 
wasting  the  country,  leaving  desolation  behind  them.  The  Southern  news 
papers  were  calling  for  a  movement  of  the  victorious  army  of  Northern 
Virginia  into  Northern  territory,  that  the  people  there  might  feel  the  bur 
den  and  woe  of  war.  The  state  of  affairs  in  the  Northern  States  favored 
such  a  movement. 

There  were  so  many  disloyal  men  in  Ohio  and  Indiana  that  General 
Burnside,  who  had  been  sent  to  Cincinnati  to  take  command  there,  pub 
lished  an  order  threatening  the  arrest  of  men  who  should  give  aid  and 
comfort  to  the  enemy. 

On  May  5th,  when  Hooker  was  being  driven  from  Chancellorsville, 
Bnrnside  sent  soldiers  to  Dayton,  who  arrested  Clement  L.  Vallandigham. 
He  was  tried  by  a  military  court.  General  Burnside  paid  no  attention 
to  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus,  which  was  issued  by  a  judge  of  one  of  the 
courts,  for  the  civil  power  had  been  placed  beneath  the  military.  Bayonet 
instead  of  civil  law  ruled.  Vallandigham  was  declared  guilty  of  express 
ing  his  sympathies  in  favor  of  the  enemy.  He  had  been  very  bitter  against 
the  President  and  the  continuance  of  the  war.  He  was  put  in  prison,  but 
President  Lincoln  thought  it  better  to  send  him  south  to  the  Confederates. 

Mr.  Vallandigham  had  opposed  the  war  from  the  beginning,  and  he  had 
rendered  great  service  to  the  Confederates  by  his  disloyalty  to  the  Union. 
The  newspapers  of  the  South  had  praised  him  for  what  he  had  done, 
but  he  was  treated  with  scant  civility  in  Richmond.  He  could  not  render 
any  service  to  the  Confederacy  there.  These  the  words  of  a  Richmond 
newspaper :  "  He  has  no  claim  on  our  gratitude.  He  is  simply  an  alien 
enemy,  a  prisoner  of  war,  a  respectable  enemy."(3) 

Mr.  Vallandigham  made  his  way  to  Canada,  and  was  soon  back  in  Ohio, 
the  candidate  of  the  Peace  party  for  governor. 


SPRING   OF   1863.  163 

When  the  war  began  more  men  volunteered  than  were  called  for,  but 
the  wave  of  patriotism  had  spent  its  force  ;  no  volunteers  came  to  fill  up 
the  ranks,  and  Congress  ordered  a  draft.  It  was  to  go  into  effect  July  1st. 
The  Peace  Democrats  said  that  the  war  was  a  failure. 

A  great  "  Peace "  Convention  was  held  in  New  York  City,  which 
passed  resolutions  favoring  State  rights,  for  which  the  South  was  con 
tending.  These  the  words  of  one  of  the  resolutions :  "  Under  the  Consti 
tution  there  is  no  power  in  the  Federal  Constitution  to  coerce  the  States 
by  military  force." 

Fernando  Wood,  of  New  York  City,  said,  "  I  am  for  peace  as  the  only 
possible  hope  for  the  restoration  of  the  Union.  I  am  for  peace  because 
the  war  is  a  failure.  The  Government  has  no  power  to  coerce  a  State. 
It  is  a  failure  because  we  have  undertaken  what  we  cannot  perform." 

The  Democratic  Convention  of  Pennsylvania  denounced  the  emancipa 
tion  of  the  slaves  by  President  Lincoln  and  the  employment  of  negroes  as 
soldiers,  and  passed  this  resolution  : 

"  The  party  of  fanaticism — or  crime,  whichever  it  may  be  called — that 
seeks  to  turn  loose  the  slaves  of  the  Southern  States  to  overrun  the  North, 
and  to  enter  into  competition  with  the  white  laboring  masses,  thus  degrad 
ing  their  manhood  by  placing  them  on  an  equality  with  negroes,  is  insult 
ing  to  our  race,  and  meets  our  most  emphatic  and  unqualified  condemna 
tion.  This  is  a  government  of  white  men,  and  was  established  exclusively 
for  the  white  race." 

From  the  beginning  of  the  war  the  Confederate  Government  had  been 
looking  eagerly  across  the  Atlantic  to  the  countries  of  Europe  for  sympa 
thy  and  help,  had  received  both  in  arms,  ammunition,  and  supplies  of  all 
kinds — had  been  recognized  as  belligerents.  But  that  was  not  enough— 
they  must  be  recognized  as  a  nation.  They  had  defeated  great  armies, 
won  brilliant  victories.  If  now  they  could  invade  Pennsylvania  and  de 
feat  the  Northern  army  in  its  own  territory,  their  friends  in  England 
would  compel  the  Queen  to  recognize  the  Confederacy  as  a  nation. 

If  they  could  defeat  the  Union  army  in  Pennsylvania,  then  they  could 
take  possession  of  Baltimore  and  redeem  Maryland ;  then  Washington 
would  be  theirs,  and  they  would  fling  out  the  Stars  and  Bars  above  the 
dome  of  the  Capitol,  and  the  Confederacy  and  .not  the  Union  would  ev 
erywhere  be  hailed  as  the  rising  power  of  the  Western  World.  The  rec 
ognition  of  the  Confederacy  by  France  and  Great  Britain  would  irritate 
the  North,  already  angered  by  the  course  pursued  by  the  latter  country ; 
war  would  follow,  and  then  the  iron-clad  war-ships  of  England's  great  navy 
would  scatter  the  fleets  blockading  Wilmington  and  Savannah  and  the 


164:  MARCHING  TO  VICTORY. 

Chesapeake  like  chaff  before  the  wind,  and  carry  desolation  to  New  York 
and  Boston.  The  troops  of  Great  Britain  were  already  in  Canada ;  Con 
federate  agents  were  at  work  in  Montreal  and  Toronto,  and  opposite  De 
troit,  or  Niagara  Falls.  Once  bring  about  a  war  between  England  and  the 
United  States,  and  the  independence  of  the  South  was  certain. 

Mr.  Roebuck,  a  member  of  Parliament,  and  a  great  friend  of  Jefferson 
Davis,  and  Mr.  Lindsay — also  a  member  of  Parliament,  who  owned  a  great 
many  ships,  and  who,  we  may  believe,  was  not  sorry  to  know  that  the 
Florida  and  Alabama  were  burning  the  ships  owned  by  Americans ;  that 
every  vessel  thus  destroyed  would  bring  more  grist  to  his  mill  and  give  em 
ployment  to  more  British  vessels — were  both  exceedingly  active  to  bring 
about  a  recognition  of  the  Confederacy  as  a  nation  by  England.  Mr.  Roe 
buck  brought  a  motion  before  Parliament  to  that  effect.  The  debate  upon 
the  question  was  to  be  held  on  the  evening  of  the  last  day  of  June.  The 
Confederate  agent  in  London  had  written  to  Richmond  these  words :  "  At 
least  five-sixths  of  the  lower  House  and  all  the  peers,  with  only  two  or 
three  exceptions,  are  friendly  to  us."(4) 

Mr.  Roebuck  was  the  member  from  Sheffield,  where  tall  chimneys  were 
pouring  out  clouds  of  smoke,  engines  throbbing,  steam-hammers  pounding, 
and  forges  flaming,  rolling  out  thick  iron  plates  for  England's  navy  and 
for  the  Confederate  navy,  and  steel  for  the  manufacture  of  cannon  for  the 
Confederates,  Mr.  Roebuck  held  a  meeting  there  and  induced  his  constit 
uents  to  declare  in  favor  of  recognizing  the  South. 

Mr.  James  Spence,  of  Liverpool,  who  had  a  valuable  contract  with  the 
Confederate  Government,  was  organizing  "  Southern  Clubs  "  and  "  Asso 
ciations"  to  influence  the  people  of  England,  the  working-men,  the  fam 
ishing  of  Lancashire,  to  declare  themselves  in  favor  of  recognition.  The 
agent  of  the  Confederacy  in  London  was  employing  a  great  number  of 
men  to  write  articles  for  the  newspapers  in  favor  of  the  South.  One 
morning  in  May,  while  the  army  under  General  Lee  was  getting  ready  to 
march  towards  Pennsylvania,  the  people  of  London  saw  on  all  the  bill 
boards  along  the  streets,  displayed  in  bright  colors,  the  British  and  Con 
federate  flags  side  by  side.  The  Confederate  agent,  Mr.  Hotze,  wrote  to 
Mr.  Benjamin  in  regard  to  it, 

"  I  have  taken  measures  to  placard  every  available  space  in  the  streets 
of  London  with  representations  of  our  newly  adopted  flag  conjoined  with 
the  British  flag.  I  design  it  to  impress  the  masses  with  the  vitality  of 
our  cause,  to  produce  some  effect  before  the  motion  comes  on  for  discus 
sion.^6) 

In  the  month   of  March,  through  the  action   of  Baron  Erlanger,  of 


SPRING  OF   1863.  165 

France,  Mr.  James  Spence,  of  Liverpool,  and  some  of  the  bankers  of  Lon 
don  and  Paris,  a  scheme  was  carried  out,  the  promoters  of  which  expected 
to  make  a  great  deal  of  money,  and  at  the  same  time  help  on  the  Confed 
eracy.  It  was  known  as  the  Confederate  Cotton  Loan.  Cotton  was  very 
cheap  in  Charleston,  Savannah,  and  Mobile,  but  it  was  worth  fifty  cents  a 
pound  or  more  in  Liverpool.  The  Confederate  Government  was  to  de 
liver  the  cotton  at  a  fixed  price,  the  money  thus  obtained  to  go  for  the 
payment  of  the  men  who  were  building  the  iron-clad  ships  of  war  in  the 
ships-yards  at  Birkenhead,  and  for  cannon,  powder,  muskets,  and  supplies. 

Persons  subscribing  to  the  stock  of  the  company  were  to  have  their 
shares  at  ninety,  the  par  value  being  one  hundred.  The  loan  was  put  on 
the  market  on  March  19th,  and  so  adroitly  had  the  agents  stimulated  the 
stock  -  brokers,  and  those  who  sympathized  with  the  South,  that  sixteen 
million  dollars  were  subscribed  for,  and  the  shares  commanded  a  premium 
of  four  and  one-half  per  cent.,  and  a  great  many  people  were  disappointed 
because  there  were  no  more  shares  to  be  had.(6)  Mr.  Mason,  Confederate 
minister,  wrote  this  in  his  letter  to  Mr.  Benjamin,  "  It  shows,  malgre  all 
detention  and  calumny, that  cotton  is  king  at  last" 

Mr.  Roebuck  and  Mr.  Lindsay  were  doing  what  they  could  to  induce 
Parliament  to  vote  in  favor  of  Mr.  Roebuck's  motion,  and  to  bring  about 
the  co-operation  of  Louis  Napoleon.  Mr.  Slidell,  in  Paris,  was  working 
with  them.  Had  we  been  in  the  apartments  of  the  Emperor  in  the  Tuil- 
eries  on  the  afternoon  of  June  18th,  we  should  have  seen  Mr.  Slidell  and 
Louis  Napoleon  consulting  together. 

"  Would  it  be  agreeable  for  you  to  see  Mr.  Roebuck  and  Mr.  Lindsay  ?" 
Mr.  Slidell  asked. 

"  I  would  like  to  see  them.     You  may  write  to  them  to  that  effect."(7) 

The  Emperor  waited  a  moment,  and  then  said,  "  I  think  I  can  do  bet 
ter  :  make  direct  proposition  to  England  for  joint  recognition.  ...  I  shall 
bring  the  question  before  the  Cabinet  meeting  to-day." 

Mr.  Slidell  thanked  him  for  his  sanction  of  the  contract  made  for  the 
building  of  four  ships  of  war  at  Bordeaux  and  Nantes,  and  said, 

"  I  am  prepared  to  build  several  iron-clad  ships  in  France,  and  I  only 
require  your  verbal  assurance  that  they  shall  be  allowed  to  proceed  to  sea, 
under  the  Confederate  flag,  to  enter  into  contracts  for  that  purpose." 

"  You  may  build  the  ships,  but  it  will  be  necessary  that  their  destina 
tion  shall  be  concealed." 

Mr.  Roebuck  and  Mr.  Lindsay  hastened  to  Paris  and  out  to  Fontaine- 
bleau,  saw  the  Emperor,  and  on  the  25th  of  June,  while  the  army  of 
General  Lee  was  in  the  beautiful  Cumberland  Valley,  in  Pennsylvania, 


166 


MARCHING  TO  VICTORY. 


making  its  way  towards  Gettysburg,  Mr.  Slidell  wrote  this  to  Mr.  Ben 
jamin  :  "  The  interview  of  Messrs.  Roebuck  and  Lindsay  with  the  Em 
peror  at  Fontainebleau  was  highly  satisfactory.  They  were  authorized  to 
state  in  the  House  of  Commons  that  the  Emperor  was  not  only  willing 
but  anxious  to  recognize  the  Confederate  States,  with  the  co-operation  of 
England."(8) 

This  the  state  of  affairs  across  the  Atlantic  as  the  Confederate  army — 


GENERAL  J.  E.  B.   STUART. 


consolidated  into  three  corps,  commanded  respectively  by  Longstreet,  A. 
P.  Hill,  and  Ewell;  the  cavalry  by  Stuart,  and  the  artillery  under  Pendle- 
ton — prepared  to  move  north,  with  the  confident  expectation  that  they 
would  march  in  triumph  wherever  Lee  might  lead  them — possibly  through 
the  streets  of  Philadelphia — and  make  Washington  the  capital  of  the  Con 
federacy.^)  It  is  quite  probable  that  no  such  picture  presented  itself  to  the 


SPRING  OF   1863.  167 

imagination  of  generals  Lee  or  Longstreet,  or  other  Confederate  officers ; 
they  were  able  commanders,  who  made  a  proper  estimate  of  the  difficul 
ties  before  them,  but  the  enthusiasm  of  the  soldiers  was  unbounded  ;  they 
were  confident  of  victory,  and  that  they  could  reach  Philadelphia  or  New 
York. 

The  Army  of  the  Potomac  under  General  Hooker  was  not  so  well  or 
ganized  as  that  of  General  Lee.  It  was  composed  of  six  corps,  giving  to  a 
corps  commander  only  half  as  many  men  as  were  controlled  by  a  Confed 
erate  corps  commander.  The  horses,  of  the  Union  cavalry  had  been  badly 
broken  down  in  the  long,  hard  marches  of  Stoneman  at  the  time  of  the 
battle  of  Chancellorsville.  General  Pleasonton  had  been  placed  in  com 
mand  of  the  cavalry,  who  set  himself  to  work  to  obtain  new  horses. 

Deserters  from  the  Confederate  army,  the  last  week  in  May,  informed 
General  Hooker  that  an  order  from  General  Lee  had  been  read  to  the  army 
that  the  troops  were  to  have  long  marches  and  hard  fighting  in  a  part  of 
the  country  where  there  would  be  no  railroad  transportation  for  them. 

On  the  second  day  of  June  a  man  reached  Fortress  Monroe  from  Rich 
mond,  who  said  that  General  Lee  was  going  to  invade  Maryland.  Gen 
eral  Hooker  saw  that  some  of  the  tents  which  had  dotted  the  landscape  on 
the  green  hills  across  the  Rappahannock  were  there  no  longer.  His  scouts 
said  that  troops  were  moving  from  the  battle-field  of  Chancellorsville 
towards  Culpeper;  that  the  Confederate  cavalry  was  encamped  in  the 
fields  near  that  town,  and  that  Stuart  was  getting  ready  to  make  a  move 
ment;  whereupon  he  determined  to  find  out  what  General  Lee  was  doing, 
and  ordered  pontoon  bridges  to  be  laid  where  Sedgwick  crossed  the  river 
four  weeks  before.  Again  the  Sixth  Corps,  under  Sedgwick,  marched 
down  to  the  river,  but  only  a  portion  of  the  troops  crossed.  General 
Longstreet's  troops  had  just  started  towards  Culpeper,  and  were  at  once 
halted ;  but  General  Lee  came  to  the  conclusion  that  General  Hooker  was 
not  intending  to  cross  the  river,  and  the  troops  moved  on. 

General  Hooker  was  troubled  by  visitors  who  came  to  the  army.  Fa 
thers  and  mothers  wanted  to  see  their  sons ;  wives,  their  husbands  ;  sisters, 
their  brothers.  He  sent  this  to  Mr.  Stanton,  Secretary  of  War : 

"  My  army  is  more  in  danger  of  being  taken  by  the  women  than  by 
rebels.  They  arrive  by  steamboat-loads.  Yesterday  was  not  a  good  day 
for  them ;  only  eighteen  arrived ;  of  these  fifteen  held  passes  from  the 
War  Department."  In  another  despatch,  the  same  day,  he  gave  this  infor 
mation  to  General  Halleck :  "  As  the  accumulation  of  the  heavy  rebel  force 
of  cavalry  about  Culpeper  may  mean  mischief,  I  am  determined  to  break 
it  up." 


168  MARCHING  TO  VICTORY. 

General  Hooker  wrote  to  President  Lincoln  expressing  a  desire,  in  case 
a  large  portion  of  the  Confederates  were  to  leave  Fredericksburg,  to  cross 
and  fall  upon  those  remaining.  This  the  reply  of  the  President : 

"  I  have  but  one  idea  whicli  I  think  worth  suggesting  to  you,  and  that 
is,  in  case  you  find  Lee  coming  to  the  north  of  the  Rappahannock,  I  would 
by  no  means  cross  to  the  south  of  it.  If  he  should  leave  a  rear  force  at 
Fredericks  burg,  tempting  you  to  fall  upon  it,  it  would  fight  in  intrench- 
ments  and  have  you  at  a  disadvantage,  and  so  man  for  man  worst  you  at 
that  point,  while  his  main  force  would  in  some  way  be  getting  an  advan 
tage  of  you  northward.  In  one  word,  I  would  not  take  any  risk  of  being 
entangled  upon  the  river,  like  an  ox  jumped  half  over  the  fence,  and  liable 
to  be  torn  by  dogs  front  and  rear,  without  a  fair  chance  to  gore  one  way 
or  kick  the  other." 

Again  General  Hooker  sent  a  despatch  :  "  Will  it  not  promote  the  true 
interests  of  the  cause  for  me  to  march  to  Richmond  at  once  ?" 

He  received  this  reply :  "  I  think  Lee's  army,  and  not  Richmond,  is 
your  true  objective  point.     If  he   comes   towards   the  Upper  Potomac 
follow  on  his  flank,  and  on  the  inside  track,  shortening  your  lines  while 
he  lengthens  his.     Fight  him,  too,  when  opportunity  offers.     If  he  stays 
where  he  is,  fret  him  and  fret  him." 

From  the  beginning  of  the  war  the  cry  had  been  throughout  the 
North,  "  On  to  Richmond !"  McClellan  had  made  the  Confederate  capi 
tal  his  objective  point.  General  Hooker  was  doing  the  same.  They  had 
been  educated  at  West  Point ;  but  President  Lincoln,  who  never  had  read 
a  work  on  military  art,  by  his  common-sense  comprehended  and  outlined 
the  correct  tactics  to  be  pursued  in  the  campaign  which  Lee,  and  not 
Hooker,  was  inaugurating. 

General  Stuart,  commanding  the  Confederate  cavalry,  was  proud  of  his 
troops.  Twice  he  had  ridden  round  the  Union  army — once  on  the  Penin 
sula,  and  once  in  Maryland.  He  held  a  grand  review  of  them  on  the 
smooth  fields  around  Culpeper.  The  corps  was  in  superb  condition, 
numbering  between  eleven  and  twelve  thousand.  Each  soldier  regarded 
it  as  a  grand  occasion,  with  General  Lee  present  to  behold  their  martial 
bearing.  It  was  a  magnificent  spectacle.  The  review  over,  the  brigades 
moved  northward  towards  the  Rappahannock.  The  movement  for  the 
invasion  of  the  North  had  begun.  In  the  morning  Stuart  was  to  cross  the 
river  and  move  so  as  to  screen  the  marching  of  the  infantry.  Fitz-Hugh 
Lee's  brigade,  under  Colonel  Mumford,  was  picketing  the  river.  The  order 
was  issued  for  an  early  start  in  the  morning. 

The  railroad  leading  from  Alexandria  south-west  crosses  the  Rappahan- 


SPRING  OF   1863. 


169 


BRANDY   STATION. 


nock  River.  Brandy  Station  is  the  first  stopping  -  place  south  of  the 
river,  and  Culpeper  the  second.  Two  miles  below  the  bridge  is  Kelley's 
Ford ;  two  miles  above  it,  Beverly  Ford.  North  of  Brandy  Station  stood 
St.  James's  Church,  on  the  road  leading  to  Beverly  Ford,  on  the  west 
side  of  the  road.  On  the  east  side  is  the  house  of  Mr.  Thompson,  an  old- 
fashioned  brick  mansion, 
surrounded  by  a  beauti 
ful  grove  of  trees  on  a 
knoll,  which  overlooked 
the  surrounding  fields. 
The  Sixth  Virginia  Cav 
alry  of  Jones's  brigade 
tethered  their  horses  be 
neath  the  trees,  and  the 
horse  artillery  parked 
their  guns  farther  up  the 
road  in  a  field  bordered 
on  the  north  by  woods. 
It  is  nearly  two  miles 
from  the  ford.  Not  far 

from  Brandy  Station  is  another  large  mansion,  to  which  the  owner  had 
given  the  name  of  Fleetwood,  where  General  Stuart  had  his  headquar 
ters.  There  is  another  mansion,  that  of  Mr.  Barbour,  beautifully  situated, 
with  trees  around  it,  upon  a  swell  of  land,  with  broad  fields  northward 
and  eastward.  This  the  ground  on  which  the  Confederate  cavalry  had 
bivouacked. 

On  the  afternoon  of  the  8th  of  June,  while  the  Confederate  cavalry  was 
marching  in  review,  the  Union  cavalry  was  moving  south-west  from  its 
position  on  the  flank  of  the  Union  army,  accompanied  by  Ames's  and  Rus 
sell's  brigades  of  infantry.  General  Pleasonton,  with  Buford's  division 
of  cavalry  and  Ames's  brigade  of  infantry,  was  moving  in  the  direction  of 
Beverly  Ford  ;  Gregg's  cavalry  and  Russell's  infantry  were  moving  towards 
Kelley's  Ford.  Duffie's  brigade  was  to  cross  the  river  below  Gregg,  move 
south  to  Stevensburg,  on  the  direct  road  from  Fredericksburg  to  Culpeper, 
then  move  to  Brandy  Station  and  join  the  other  columns  at  that  point, 
General  Pleasonton  supposing  the  while  that  Stuart  was  at  Culpeper,  five 
miles  beyond  Brandy  Station. 

The  Union  cavalry  halted  for  a  short  rest  through  the  brief  summer 
night.  No  fires  were  kindled.  No  Confederate  picket  or  scout  saw  them. 
The  morning  of  the  9th  dawned.  A  thick  fog,  which  concealed  them, 


170  MARCHING  TO   VICTORY. 

hung  along  the  valley.  Davis's  brigade  of  Buford's  division  was  in  ad 
vance  on  the  road  to  Beverly  Ford.  The  cavalrymen  reach  the  stream. 
The  Confederate  pickets  on  the  southern  bank  are  startled  by  the  sudden 
splashing  of  water.  Before  they  can  leap  into  their  saddles  the  Union 
troops  are  upon  them,  capturing  nearly  all  of  them. 

Had  General  Buford  known  that  the  Confederate  batteries  were  parked 
near  at  hand,  behind  a  piece  of  woods ;  that  the  horses  were  unharnessed, 
and  just  munching  their  corn,  he  might  have  swooped  down  upon  them, 
as  an  eagle  upon  its  prey,  and  captured  four  full  batteries ;  but  he  did  not 
know  they  were  there. 

There  was  a  quick  harnessing  of  horses.  The  skirmishers  began  firing 
with  their  carbines.  The  Confederates  of  Jones's  brigade  were  quickly  in 
the  saddle.  Then  came  charge  and  countercharge,  firing  of  pistols,  draw 
ing  of  sabres,  a  melee  in  which  Colonel  Davis,  of  the  New  York  regiment, 
was  mortally  wounded,  and  the  regiment  driven  ;  but  the  Eighth  Illinois 
came  up  and  the  Virginians  were  turned  back.  The  artillerymen  drove 
upon  the. gallop  across  the  field  to  St.  James's  Church,  where  the  guns 
were  wheeled  into  position.  In  the  flight  of  the  Confederate  wagons  a 
desk  was  jostled  from  one  of  them,  which  the  Union  soldiers  picked  up, 
finding  papers  which  informed  Pleasonton  of  the  movement  which  Stuart- 
was  to  have  made,  and  of  the  intention  of  going  beyond  the  Potomac. 
There  was  a  saddling  of  horses  in  all  the  Confederate  brigades,  a  sudden 
breaking  up  of  the  camp,  and  a  movement  of  all  the  baggage-wagons  tow 
ards  Culpeper.  General  Stuart  sent  a  portion  of  the  troops  towards  Kel- 
ley's  Ford,  and  then  rode  up  to  St.  James's  Church  to  direct  the  battle. 
A  messenger  came  from  the  direction  of  Kelley's  Ford  with  the  informa 
tion  that  a  force  of  Union  cavalry  was  advancing  towards  Brandy  Station 
from  the  east ;  in  a  few  moments  they  would  be  in  possession  of  Fleet- 
wood.  Colonel  Long,  of  Stuart's  staff,  sent  messengers  to  Stuart  with  the 
news. 

The  Confederate  commander  did  not  credit  the  information.  "Bide 
back  there  and  see  what  all  that  foolishness  is  about,"  he  said  to  Major 
Hart.  Then  the  sound  of  cannon  was  heard,  and  Stuart  sent  two  regi 
ments  towards  Fleetwood,  with  their  horses  upon  the  run,  to  find  that  the 
Union  men  of  New  Jersey,  under  Colonel  Wyndham,  were  advancing  to 
seize  the  hill.  Stuart  began  to  comprehend  the  situation.  He  ordered  his 
troops  to  fall  back  from  St.  James's  Church  and  concentrate  at  Fleetwood. 

A  great  cavalry  battle  began  for  the  possession  of  the  hill — a  battle 
very  difficult  to  describe.  It  was  mainly  between  Gregg's  Union  division 
and  the  whole  force  of  Confederates,  with  the  exception  of  one  brigade. 


SPRING   OF   1863.  173 

We  may  think  of  ten  thousand  horses,  ten  thousand  fearless  riders ;  the 
rattling  fire  of  carbines,  thundering  of  cannon  ;  brigades  charging  upon 
the  guns,  flashing  of  sabres,  cutting  and  slashing,  horses  and  men  going 
down  in  heaps ;  yells,  curses,  thick  clouds  of  smoke  and  dust,  charge  and 
countercharge  —  a  Confederate  battery  captured  and  recaptured,  again 
in  the  hands  of  the  Union  troops,  again  lost,  a  third  time  taken,  a  third 
time  lost — men  sabred  at  the  guns,  horses  and  men  struggling  and  writh 
ing  ;  reinforcements  of  Confederates,  the  arrival  of  Rodes's  division  of 
infantry,  the  withdrawal  of  the  Union  troops  unmolested  by  the  Confed 
erates  ;  six  hundred  Union  and  as  many  more  Confederates  killed  or  wound 
ed,  three  Union  cannon  the  trophies  of  the  Confederates. 

They  were  the  guns  of  the  Sixth  New  York  Battery.  Of  the  thirty- 
six  men  belonging  to  the  battery  twenty-one  were  either  killed,  wounded, 
or  were  missing.  General  Gregg  reformed  his  troops  on  the  ground  where 
he  had  formed  them  for  the  attack,  and  returned  across  the  river,  Stuart 
making  no  attempt  to  harass  him,  for  Buford  was  threatening  him  from 
the  north-west,  where  the  contest  was  renewed  with  great  fury,  while  down 
towards  Stevensburg  a  third  conflict  was  going  on  between  a  portion  of 
the  Confederates  and  the  Union  cavalry  under  Duffie,  which  was  soon 
over,  Duffie  being  ordered  to  join  General  Gregg.  With  the  setting  of 
the  sun  the  Union  cavalry  recrossed  the  Rappahannock,  having  accom 
plished  their  object — ascertaining  the  position  of  the  Confederate  forces ; 
that  a  portion  of  the  infantry  was  at  Culpeper.  They  had  done  more 
than  this — they  had  frustrated  the  plan  of  General  Lee,  the  sending  of 
Stuart  to  menace  Washington  in  his  northward  movement.  Far  more 
than  this,  for  the  struggle  around  Fleetwood  was  the  making  of  the 
Union  cavalry,  and  the  unmaking  of  the  Confederate.  Up  to  that  hour 
the  Union  cavalry  had  been  of  little  account  as  a  distinct  arm  of  the  serv 
ice  ;  but  now  organized  as  a  compact  body,  wielding  its  strength  in  solid 
mass,  it  became  a  formidable  power,  while  the  Confederate  cavalry,  from 
that  hour,  was  on  the  wane. 

"  The  battle,"  said  a  Richmond  paper,  "  narrowly  missed  being  a  great 
disaster  to  our  arms.  Our  men  were  completely  surprised,  and  were  only 
saved  by  their  own  indomitable  gallantry  and  courage.  .  .  .  The  Yankees 
retired  slowly,  disputing  every  foot  of  ground. "(10) 

The  Union  troops  were  elated  by  what  they  had  done,  while  the  Con 
federates  were  astonished  at  the  persistency,  bravery,  audacity,  and  hardi 
hood  of  the  Union  cavalrymen.  We  shall  see  that  in  every  cavalry  en 
gagement,  from  that  hour  to  the  close  of  the  war,  the  Union  cavalry 
maintained  the  prestige  won  in  this  engagement. 


174:  MARCHING  TO  VICTORY. 

In  several  histories  of  the  war  it  is  asserted  that  the  attack  of  the 
Union  cavalry  at  Brandy  Station  compelled  General  Lee  to  change  all  his 
plans  ;  that  he  had  intended  to  march  along  the  eastern  base  of  the  Blue 
Ridge,  while  Stuart  was  to  screen  the  movement  by  moving  towards 
Washington ;  but  I  do  not  find  any  evidence  that  General  Lee  had  marked 
out  such  a  movement  for  his  main  army.  General  E well's  troops  were 
then  on  their  way  towards  the  valley  of  the  Shenandoah. 

Before  the  Confederate  army  started  from  Culpeper,  General  Long- 
street  sent  his  trusted  scout,  Harrison,  into  the  Union  lines  to  see  what 
General  Hooker  wras  doing. 

"  Where  shall  I  report  to  you  ?"  the  scout  asked. 

"  Find  me  wherever  I  am,"  was  the  reply. 

General  Longstreet  gave  him  some  money — not  Confederate  money, 
but  gold,  and  the  scout  disappeared.  We  shall  see  him  by-and-by. 

The  Union  troops  at  Winchester,  in  the  Shenandoah  Valley,  were  in  the 
department  commanded  by  General  Schenck,  who  was  at  Baltimore.  He 
sent  word  to  General  Milroy  at  Winchester  to  send  his  supplies  to  Har 
per's  Ferry.  General  Milroy  replied  that  he  could  hold  the  place  against 
any  force  that  would  probably  attack  him.  He  did  not  know  that  the 
whole  Confederate  army  was  moving  in  that  direction.  He  said  that  there 
were  Union  people  in  Winchester,  and  that  it  would  be  cruel  to  abandon 
those  who  were  looking  to  him  for  protection.  General  Schenck  replied 
that  he  might  remain,  but  must  be  ready  to  move  at  any  moment.  The  War 
Department  at  Washington  made  the  mistake  of  not  letting  Milroy  know 
that  the  main  body  of  the  Confederate  army  was  at  Culpeper — a  neglect 
which  resulted  in  disaster.  Milroy  telegraphed  on  the  evening  of  the  12th 
for  specific  orders,  but  before  the  orders  were  ready  Swell's  cavalrymen 
had  cut  the  wires.  The  next  morning  Rodes's  division  of  Swell's  corps 
was  at  Berry  ville,  east  of  Winchester,  but  the  Union  brigade  there  escaped 
to  Harper's  Ferry.  Rodes  went  on  to  Martinsburg,  north  of  Winchester, 
getting  between  Milroy  and  the  Potomac,  while  the  other  divisions  of 
Ewell  advanced  directly  upon  the  town.  Milroy  was  nearly  surrounded. 
He  spiked  the  guns  in  the  forts  on  the  hills  west  of  the  town,  abandoned 
his  wagon-trains,  and  at  midnight  succeeded  in  escaping  with  a  portion  of 
the  troops ;  but  all  the  sick  in  the  hospital  and  nearly  half  of  his  com 
mand  were  taken  prisoners.  By  staying  a  day  too  long  the  Union  army 
lost  more  than  two  thousand  men,  besides  the  cannon  and  wagons.  On 
Sunday  evening,  while  Milroy  was  getting  ready  to  escape,  President  Lin 
coln,  in  Washington,  was  sending  this  despatch  to  Hooker :  "  If  the  head 


SPRING    OF   1863.  175 

of  Lee's  army  is  at  Martinsburg  and  the  tail  of  it  on  the  plank  road,  be 
tween  Fredericksburg  and  Chancellorsville,  the  animal  must  be  thin  some 
where.  Could  you  not  beak  him  ?" 

The  President  sent  General  Couch  to  Harrisburg  and  another  officer 
to  Pittsburg  to  make  arrangements  against  invasion,  and  issued  a  procla 
mation  calling  out  one  hundred  thousand  militia  from  Pennsylvania,  Ohios 
New  York,  New  Jersey,  and  Maryland.  Governor  Curtin,  of  Pennsylva 
nia,  also  issued  a  proclamation,  informing  the  people  of  the  State  of  the 
threatened  invasion.  On  the  15th  of  June  I  reached  Harrisburg.  The 
city  was  a  bedlam.  A  great  crowd  of  people — excited  men,  women  wring 
ing  their  hands,  and  children  crying,  all  with  big  bundles — were  at  the 
railroad-station,  ready  to  jump  into  the  cars  to  escape  northward  or  east 
ward.  Merchants  were  packing  up  their  goods.  There  was  a  great  pile 
of  trunks  and  boxes.  Teams  loaded  with  furniture,  beds,  and  clothing 
rumbled  through  the  streets;  wagons  were  crossing  the  bridge  over  the 
Susquehanna ;  farmers  from  the  beautiful  Cumberland  Valley  were  hur 
rying  their  cattle,  horses,  sheep,  and  pigs  in  droves  across  the  river.  The 
banks  were  sending  their  money  to  Philadelphia  and  New  York.  The 
railroads  were  removing  all  their  cars  and  engines  ;  housewives  secreting 
their  silver  spoons  and  candlesticks.  The  excitement  was  very  wild 
when  a  long  train  of  army-wagons  came  thundering  across  the  long  bridge 
driven  by  teamsters  covered  with  dust — a  portion  of  the  train  which 
Milroy  had  sent  from  Winchester — all  hurrying  as  if  the  Confederates 
were  close  upon  them.  The  next  morning  some  of  the  militia  began  to 
arrive — farmers  and  their  sons,  clerks  from  stores,  in  citizens'  dress.  It 
was  very  laughable  to  see  men  wearing  long  linen  coats — "  dusters  " — and 
"stove-pipe"  hats,  armed  with  old  muskets,  mounted  as  cavalrymer, 
riding  pell-mell  through  the  streets.  Hundreds  of  men  were  at  work 
throwing  up  intrenchments. 

Going  from  Harrisbnrg  to  Baltimore,  I  found  another  scene  of  excite 
ment.  General  Schenck  was  in  command.  A  great  force  of  negroes  were 
at  work  building  breastworks  and  barricades  on  the  roads  west  of  the  city, 
using  hogsheads  of  tobacco,  filling  barrels  with  earth,  piling  up  old  wag 
ons,  carts,  and  boxes ;  cutting  down  trees,  and  placing  them  in  front  of  the 
breastworks  ;  planting  heavy  guns  on  the  hills,  to  command  all  the  ave 
nues  of  approach. 

Twenty-six  months  before,  the  Massachusetts  troops  had  fought  theii 
way  through  Baltimore ;  but  now  the  people  were  arming  for  the  fight, 
and  the  negroes,  as  they  threw  up  the  yellow  earth  with  their  shovels  and 
pounded  it  down  upon  the  breastworks  with  mallets,  were  singing, 


176  MARCHING  TO   VICTORY. 

"John  Brown's  body  lies  a-mouldering  in  the  grave; 
His  soul  is  marching  on." 

Only  four  years  had  passed  since  the  execution  of  John  Brown ;  but 
the  nation,  the  great  ideas  underlying  it,  had  moved  on  with  a  rapidity 
hardly  paralleled  in  history. 


NOTES  TO   CHAPTER  IX, 

(J)  Richmond  Examiner,  May  21, 1863. 

( 2)  Longstreet,  "  Annals  of  the  War,"  p.  416. 

( 3)  Richmond  Examiner,  May  30, 1863. 

( 4)  Hotze  to  Benjamin,  August  4,  1863. 

(5)  Idem.,  June  6,  1863. 

( 6)  Mason  to  Benjamin,  March  31,  1863. 
( T)  Slidell  to  Benjamin,  June  18,  1863. 
(8)  Idem,,  June  25,  1863. 

( ')  Conversation  between  Author  and  Confederate  soldiers. 
<10)  Richmond  Examiner,  June  12, 1863. 


CONFEDERATE  NORTHWARD  MARCH.  177 


CHAPTER  X. 

CONFEDERATE  NORTHWARD  MARCH. 

ON  the  morning  of  June  16th  Jenkins's  brigade  of  Confederate  cavalry 
advanced  from  the  Potomac  into  Pennsylvania,  through  Greencas- 
tle,  reaching  Chambersburg  at  midnight.  Confederate  scouting  parties 
went  out  in  all  directions  collecting  what  cattle  and  horses  they  could  find, 
also  all  the  negroes,  sending  them  into  Virginia  to  be  sold  as  slaves.  The 
government  of  which  Jefferson  Davis  was  the  head  was  to  be  established 
on  African  slavery — upon  the  idea  that  a  negro  was  to  be  classed  with 
horses  and  cattle,  having  a  property  value.  It  mattered  not  that  the  ne 
groes  of  Pennsylvania  were  free ;  they  were  seized  and  sent  South.  It  is 
not  probable  that  General  Jenkins,  or  any  one  else,  was  greatly  enriched 
by  the  seizure  ;  possibly  few,  if  any,  of  the  negroes  were  sold,  for  slave 
property  in  Virginia  was  rapidly  diminishing  in  value ;  but  the  fact  re 
mains  that  the  spirit  of  slavery,  the  fundamental  idea  underlying  the 
Confederate  Government,  was  displayed  by  these  videttes  of  the  Confeder 
ate  army.  Jenkins,  having  obtained  a  large  amount  of  supplies,  fell  back 
to  join  Ewell,  who  was  at  Williamsport. 

A.  P.  Hill  was  marching  from  Fredericksburg  to  Culpeper ;  Long- 
street  advancing  up  the  eastern  slope  of  the  Blue  Ridge. 

On  the  Upper  Potomac  General  Imboden,  with  a  brigade  of  Confed 
erate  cavalry,  was  entering  Cumberland  and  destroying  the  Baltimore  and 
Ohio  Railroad  to  prevent  General  Kelley,  who  was  in  West  Virginia  with 
several  thousand  troops,  from  coming  east. 

General  Hooker  could  not  determine  what  Lee  intended  to  do.  Gen 
eral  Halleck,  with  all  the  telegraph  wires  running  into  his  office  in  the  War 
Department,  could  not  make  out  whether  Lee  was  intending  to  sweep 
down  upon  Baltimore  or  move  towards  Washington.  The  Union  army 
was  between  the  Bull  Run  Mountains  and  Washington — at  Manassas,  Cen 
tre  ville,  Drains ville — covering  Washington,  ready  to  move  across  the  Poto 
mac  the  moment  Lee's  movements  should  indicate  his  line  of  advance. 

At  Harper's  Ferry,  on  Maryland  Heights,  in  a  position  which  Lee 


178  MARCHING  TO  VICTORY. 

could  not  hope  successfully  to  assail,  were  ten  thousand  troops  under  Gen 
eral  French,  of  little  use  where  they  were,  but  which  might  be  used  to 
excellent  advantage  by  General  Hooker.  They  were  not  under  him,  but 
were  under  General  Schenck's  orders,  whose  headquarters  were  at  Balti 
more.  General  Hooker  asked  that  they  might  be  included  in  his  com 
mand,  but  the  request  was  refused  by  General  Halleck. 

In  the  forts  around  "Washington  were  thirty  thousand  troops,  under 
General  Heintzelman,  to  hold  the  city  against  any  attack. 

Going  down  to  Yorktown,  we  see  General  Keyes  with  fifteen  thousand 
men  in  a  position  to  threaten  Richmond. 

At  daybreak,  June  17th,  the  Union  cavalry,  under  Pleasonton,  was  at 
Manassas  Junction.  He  moved  towards  Aldie,  intending  to  push  north 
west  to  the  Blue  Ridge  to  discover  what  Lee  was  doing.  Kilpatrick,  with 
three  of  his  regiments,  led  the  column  up  the  turnpike.  The  other  regi 
ment  of  his  brigade — the  First  Rhode  Island,  two  hundred  and  eighty  men, 
under  Colonel  Duffie — was  directed  to  go  through  Thoroughfare  Gap  in 
the  Bull  Run  Mountains,  to  camp  at  night  at  Middleburg,  five  miles  west 
of  Aldie. 

The  Confederate  cavalry  at  the  same  hour  was  moving  east  towards 
Aldie. 

It  was  two  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  when  Kilpatrick's  scouts,  advanc 
ing  towards  Aldie,  came  upon  Confederate  pickets.  The  Second  New 
York  charged  upon  them,  driving  them  swiftly  through  the  little  vil 
lage. 

The  Confederates  were  of  the  First,  Second,  Third,  Fourth,  and  Fifth 
Virginia.  The  first  three  were  feeding  their  horses  at  Mr.  Carter's  barn,  a 
mile  and  a  half  from  Aldie.  There  was  quick  saddling,  bridling,  and  form 
ing  in  column. 

A  short  distance  west  of  Aldie  the  turnpike  divides — one  branch  run 
ning  north-west  to  Snicker's  Gap,  the  other  west  to  Middleburg.  Between 
the  roads  there  is  a  hill  upon  which  Munford,  commanding  the  Confeder 
ates,  planted  his  artillery.  His  sharp-shooters  were  behind  a  fence  which 
runs  from  road  to  road. 

A  little  stream  crosses  the  road  at  the  foot  of  the  hill,  and  there  is  a 
mill  on  the  road  leading  to  Middleburg.  There  is  a  meadow  at  the  foot  of 
the  hill  and  several  hay-stacks.  The  Union  cavalry,  to  get  at  Munford, 
must  either  charge  up  the  turnpike  swept  by  his  cannon,  or  descend  the 
steep  bank,  cross  the  river  in  the  face  of  his  sharp-shooters,  or  make  a  flank 
movement. 

Kilpatrick  saw  that  he  could  not  charge  up  the  Middleburg  road  ;  that 


CONFEDERATE   NORTHWARD   MARCH. 


179 


the  troops  would  be  annihilated  ;  but  the  Second  New  York  rushed  upon 
the  Confederate  skirmishers  and  captured  several. 

Kilpatrick's  cannon  poured  their  fire  upon  the  troops  along  the  Snick 
er's  Gap  road,  creating  confusion  in  Munford's  works.  The  Fourth  New 
York,  Colonel  Cesnola,  made  a  charge.  For  some  breach  of  orders  he  was 
under  arrest ;  his  sword  had  been  taken  from  him,  but  Kilpatrick  handed 
it  back  in  token  of  his  bravery.  He  was  wounded  in  the  melee,  fell  from 
his  horse,  and  was  taken  prisoner. 

The  First  Maine,  belonging  to  the  first  brigade,  was  sent  forward  by 
General  Gregg.      Kilpatrick  ral 
lied  his  men,  and  the  fight  went 
on.     The   Union  troops  attacked 
with  great  vigor. 

"  I  never  saw  men  show  bet 
ter  spirit,"  writes  Colonel  Mun- 
ford,  praising  their  bravery. 

Kilpatrick's  persistent  attack 
was  gradually  folding  back  Mun 
ford's  left  flank  when,  to  the  sur 
prise  of  the  Union  troops,  the  Con 
federate  regiments  retired  towards 
Middleburg. 

The  reason  for  their  sudden 

abandonment  of  so  strong  a  position  was  the  arrival  of  Captain  Frank 
Robertson  from  Middleburg  with  an  order  from  General  Stuart  to  fall 
back  to  Rector's  Cross-roads. 

The  Rhode  Islanders  under  Duffle  had  passed  through  Thoroughfare 
Gap,  and  were  advancing  towards  Middleburg. 

They  were  within  two  miles  of  the  town  when  they  came  upon  the 
pickets  sent  out  by  Stuart  to  keep  watch  of  the  roads.  There  were  car 
bine-shots,  a  clattering  of  hoofs,  a  charge  into  the  town,  where  Stuart  was 
enjoying  the  hospitality  of  his  friends,  but  he  leaped  into  his  saddle  and 
escaped. 

Duffle  had  obeyed  orders.  He  was  in  Middleburg,  where  he  was  to 
stop  for  the  night.  He  was  well  aware  that  he  might  be  attacked  in  town, 
and  the  soldiers  barricaded  the  roads,  sending  out  pickets  in  all  direc 
tions. 

Stuart  halted,  sent  back  his  skirmishers  to  begin  the  attack,  and  sent 
Captain  Robertson  with  the  order  to  Munford,  at  Aldie,  to  inform  him 
that  a  large  body  of  Union  cavalry  was  in  his  rear,  and  that  he  must  re- 


MAP   OF  CAVALRY  ENGAGEMENTS  AT  ALDIE 
AND  UPPERVILLE. 


180  MARCHING  TO   VICTORY. 

treat.     Other  couriers  went  upon  the  gallop  with  orders  to  W.  H.  F.  Lee 
and  Robertson  to  close  in  upon  the  enemy. 

Colonel  Duffie  had  been  ordered,  when  he  reached  Middleburg,  to  send 
word  to  Pleasonton.  Captain  Allen,  with  two  men,  started  with  the  de 
spatch  at  five  o'clock  down  the  main  road,  but  came  upon  the  Fourth 
Virginia  Cavalry  retreating  from  Aldie.  Robertson  turned  through  the 
woods  and  fields,  running  against  Confederates  in  every  direction.  The 
sun  went  down,  and  in  the  gathering  darkness  he  reached  Little  River, 
came  upon  five  Confederates,  charged  upon  them,  and  compelled  them  to 
flee.  He  followed  the  river  a  long  distance  till  he  reached  the  main  road, 
came  upon  the  Union  pickets,  and  was  safe.  It  had  been  a  hazardous, 
exciting  ride.  Kilpatrick  read  the  despatches.  He  knew  the  danger 
closing  upon  Duffie,  but  his  horses  were  broken  down  by  the  long,  hard 
march  and  the  battle  with  Munford.  He  sent  the  despatch  to  Gregg,  who 
carried  it  to  Pleasonton ;  but  Pleasonton  issued  no  orders. 

Duffie  waited  through  the  long  night  hours  with  listening  ears  to  hear 
the  tramping  of  the  expected  reinforcements,  which  never  came.  He 
might  have  retreated,  for  Robertson  had  not  yet  closed  the  road  over 
which  he  came.  He  was  a  foreigner,  born  in  France,  educated  in  the 
military  schools,  under  strict  discipline  to  obey  orders  implicitly.  What 
rebuke  would  he  not  receive  from  Pleasonton  were  he  to  retreat !  He 
resolved  to  hold  his  ground  till  reinforcements  arrived,  not  knowing  that 
they  would  never  be  sent. 

He  placed  most  of  his  troops  in  a  grove  outside  of  the  town.  The  men 
were  ordered  to  speak  only  in  whispers.  The  pickets  were  out  upon  the, 
roads.  The  last  gleam  of  light  was  fading  from  the  west.  Two  com 
panies  had  dismounted,  and  their  horses  were  tied  to  trees- in  a  grove,  the 
men  lying  behind  a  stone  wall  bordering  the  road,  across  which  they  had 
felled  a  tree.  With  loaded  carbines  they  waited.  As  they  looked  down 
the  road,  peering  through  the  darkness,  they  beheld  the  advancing  Con 
federate  columns,  four  men  abreast.  There  hurst  forth  a  line  of  light 
from  sixty  carbines.  Riders  and  horses  went  down  in  a  heap.  The 
Rhode  Islanders  did  not  stop  to  load,  but  out  with  their  revolvers  and 
fired  into  the  struggling  mass.  The  Confederate  officers  rallied  the  men, 
and  again  they  charged,  but  only  to  be  cut  down  again  by  the  terrible 
volley. 

The  troops  attacking  Duffie  were  the  Fourth  and  Fifth  North  Caro 
lina,  new  regiments,  numbering  nearly  one  thousand,  and  this  was  their 
first  battle. 

Colonel  Duffie  makes  his  way  two  miles  in  the  darkness,  then  waits  for 


CONFEDERATE  NORTHWARD  MARCH.  183 

the  morning.  His  horses  have  had  nothing  to  eat  since  they  left  Manassas 
Junction.  The  animals  are  jaded  and  hungry,  and  the  men  stand  by  their 
heads  to  keep  them  from  whinnying. 

Daylight  comes,  and  the  men  leap  into  their  saddles.  The  Confeder 
ate  scouts  discover  them  and  fire  a  volley.  Duffie  is  expecting  to  hear 
Kil patrick's  guns  or  the  tramping  of  his  brigade,  but  discovers  instead 
that  W.  H.  F.  Lee's  brigade,  under  Colonel  Chambliss,  is  intercepting  his 
retreat,  while  Robertson  is  ready  to  fall  upon  his  rear.  With  sabres 
gleaming  he  charges  upon  the  Confederates,  and  gains  the  road  once 
more.  The  Rhode  Islanders  move  on  two  miles  towards  Hopewell  Gap, 
when  they  hear  the  clatter  of  hoofs  behind  them.  The  road  is  narrow 
and  rugged.  They  cannot  turn  and  face  the  oncoming  foe.  They  put 
spurs  to  their  horses,  and  the  column  goes  pell-mell  along  the  road,  bullets 
whizzing  past  them,  striking  among  them ;  the  Rhode  Islanders,  turning 
in  their  saddles,  sending  shots  in  the  faces  of  the  Virginians.  Horses  go 
down,  and  the  riders  are  trampled  by  those  behind.  For  six  miles  the 
Confederates  push  on  —  the  ranks  of  the  Rhode  Islanders  dwindling 
every  moment.  Some,  when  their  horses  fall,  leap  over  the  fences  and 
secrete  themselves  till  the  Confederates  are  gone,  then  make  their  way 
over  the  mountains  eastward. 

Color-sergeant  Robbins,  finding  that  he  would  be  captured,  tore  the 
standard  from  its  staff,  threw  the  staff  away,  thrust  the  colors  into  his 
bosom,  was  taken  prisoner,  but  escaped.  He  made  his  way  back  to  head 
quarters,  took  the  colors  from  his  bosom  and  waved  them  above  his  head- 
all  the  soldiers  around  swinging  their  hats  at  the  sight.  He  received  a 
lieutenant's  commission  for  his  heroic  service. 

When  the  Confederates  gave  up  the  chase  all  that  were  left  in  the  col 
umn  were  Colonel  Duffie  and  twenty-seven  men.  The  brave  colonel  gazed 
at  the  little  party  with  the  tears  rolling  down  his  cheeks. 

"  My  poor  boys !  My  poor  boys  !  All  gone  !  All  gone !"  were  the 
pathetic  words  wrung  from  his  heart. 

They  were  not  all  lost,  however,  for  Lieutenant-colonel  Thompson  and 
eighteen  men  cut  their  way  through  the  Confederate  lines.  Lieutenant 
Brown  and  several  soldiers  secreted  themselves  in  the  woods  till  the  next 
day,  when  Pleasoriton's  advance  enabled  them  to  escape. 

Out  of  the  two  hundred  and  eighty,  six  were  killed,  twenty  wounded, 
and  seventy  captured. 

On  the  morning  of  the  19th  we  see  Stuart  forming  Robertson's  and 
Chambliss's  brigades  near  Middleburg,  on  a  plain,  with  a  grove  in  the  cen 
tre  of  the  lines,  waiting  for  the  advance  of  Gregg's  twjo  brigades  moving 


184  MARCHING   TO   VICTORY. 

along  the  Aldie  road.  The  Confederate  artillery  were  on  a  bill  in  the 
rear.  A  portion  of  the  Union  troops  dismounted  and  came  down  upon 
their  flank,  giving  so  hot  a  fire  that  the  line  was  thrown  into  confusion. 
The  Union  centre  charged  upon  those  in  the  grove,  driving  them,  but 
were  driven  in  turn  by  the  Ninth  Virginia,  in  reserve,  and  by  the  artil 
lery  fire.  Gregg  reformed  in  the  woods.  Stuart  attacked  again  and 
again,  losing  many  men,  and  was  compelled  at  last  to  give  up  the  effort 
and  retire  to  another  position. 

Munford,  on  the  road  leading  to  Snicker's  Gap,  was  compelled  to  fall 
back  before  Buford. 

The  morning  of  the  21st  dawned.  General  Stuart  had  been  reinforced 
by  the  arrival  of  Jones's  and  Hampton's  brigades.  He  sent  Jones's  north 
to  Munford  to  hold  the  road  to  Snicker's  Gap,  and  formed  his  other  three 
brigades  at  Hector's. 

General  Gregg  had  been  reinforced  by  the  Union  infantry  of  General 
Vincent's  brigade.  Gregg  wras  to  push  Stuart  towards  Ashby's  Gap  while 
Buford  folded  back  his  left  flank.  It  was  eight  o'clock  in  the  morning 
when  the  Union  troops  opened  fire  upon  Stuart,  who  had  formed  his  line 
along  Cromwell's  Creek.  Stuart's  artillery  replied,  but  was  badly  cut 
up  by  Pleasonton's  guns.  Vincent  advanced  so  rapidly  that  Stuart  was 
obliged  to  abandon  two  of  his  cannon. 

Stuart  rallied  his  men,  but  was  again  compelled  to  retreat,  sending 
word  to  Jones  and.  Munford  to  fall  back  to  Upperville,  abandoning  the 
road  to  Snicker's  Gap  and  concentrating  his  whole  force  towards  Ashby's. 

No  one  can  say  just  what  occurred  in  the  charges  and  countercharges 
during  the  day.  Men  and  horses  went  down  in  heaps.  There  were  vol 
leys  from  carbines,  then  a  rattling  fire  from  revolvers,  gleaming  of  sabres, 
clouds  of  dust,-melees  in  narrow  roads,  along  stone-walls  and  fences,  bloody 
encounters — a  loss  of  nearly  five  hundred  on  each  side ;  but  when  night 
came,  Stuart  had  been  pushed  back  several  miles  from  his  ground  of  the 
morning. 

It  was  the  second  great  cavalry  battle  of  the  war. 

Stuart,  finding  that  Pleasonton  had  a  brigade  of  infantry,  sent  word  to 
Longstreet,  who  detailed  McLaws's  division  to  assist  him ;  but  it  did  not 
arrive  in  season  to  take  part  in  the  fight. 

Pleasonton,  having  accomplished  what  he  was  ordered  to  do,  went  back 
to  Aldie. 

General  Stuart  had  been  pushed  back  from  Aldie.  It  was  not  a  pleas 
ant  reflection.  Possibly  he  was  feeling  the  criticisms  of  the  Richmond 
newspapers  over  the  engagement  at  Brandy  Station.  He  found  that  the 


CONFEDERATE   NORTHWARD   MARCH.  185 

Union  army  blocked  the  route  which  he  had  intended  to  take  northward. 
An  idea  came  to  him  —  possibly  suggested  by  Colonel  Mosby  —  to  ride 
round  the  Union  army,  as  he  had  done  twice  when  it  was  commanded  by 
McClellan.  He  was  an  enterprising  officer,  and  loved  to  do  startling  things. 
Such  a  movement  would  go  far  to  retrieve  the  failures  of  the  lost  engage 
ments.  He  submitted  the  plan  to  General  Lee,  who  was  at  Berry  ville,  in 
the  Shenandoah,  where,  on  the  evening  of  the  21st,  he  wrote  an  order  to 
General  Ewell  to  march  to  Harrisburg  and  take  possession  of  the  capital  if 
possible.  General  Ewell  was  at  Williamsport,  and  his  troops  on  the  22d 
began  to  cross  the  river.  (') 

The  night  of  the  23d  was  dark  and  cheerless.  General  Stuart,  near 
Rector's  Cross-roads,  was  asleep  beneath  a  tree,  the  rain-drops  pattering 
upon  him,  when  a  messenger  reached  him  from  General  Lee  informing 
him  that  Ewell  was  moving  towards  Harrisburg,  that  Early's  division  was 
to  cross  the  mountains  and  march  to  York.  These  Lee's  instructions  as  to 
Stuart's  course : 

"  If  General  Hooker  remains  inactive,  you  can  leave  two  brigades  to 
watch  him  and  withdraw  with  the  other  three ;  but  should  he  not  appear 
to  be  moving  northward,  I  think  you  had  better  withdraw  this  side  of  the 
mountains  to-morrow  night,  cross  at  Shepherdstown  next  day,  and  move 
over  to  Fredericktown.  You  will,  however,  be  able  to  judge  whether  you 
can  pass  around  his  army  without  hinderance,  doing  him  all  the  damage 
you  can,  and  cross  the  river  east  of  the  mountains.  In  either  case,  after 
crossing  the  river,  you  must  move  on  and  feel  the  right  of  Ewell's  troops, 
give  instructions  to  the  two  brigades  left  behind  to  watch  the  flank  and 
rear  of  the  army,  and  (in  event  of  the  enemy  leaving  their  front)  retire 
from  the  mountains  west  of  the  Shenandoah,  leaving  sufficient  pickets  to 
guard  the  passes.Q  I  think  the  sooner  you  cross  into  Maryland  after  to 
morrow,  the  better." 

At  midnight  of  the  24th  we  see  three  Confederate  brigades — Hamp 
ton's,  Fitz-Hugh  Lee's,  and  Chambliss's — moving  eastward  from  the  town 
of  Salem,  through  the  Bull  Run  Mountains ;  but  at  Haymarket  they  come 
upon  the  Second  Corps  of  the  Union  army,  under  Hancock,  marching 
northward.  The  artillery  opens,  the  Union  infantry  wheel  into  line  of 
battle,  and  Stuart  is  compelled  to  turn  about,  recross  the  mountain,  and 
when  night  comes  he  is  back  nearly  to  his  starting-point.  A  day  has 
been  lost — a  very  provoking  delay  to  an  impatient  commander. 

General  Ewell,  with  two  divisions — Rodes's  and  Johnson's  —  were  in 
Chambersburg,  with  Jenkins's  cavalry.  General  Ewell  had  lost  a  leg  in 
the  battle  of  Groveton,  and  rode  in  a  carriage  when  on  the  march,  but 


186  MARCHING  TO  VICTORY. 

in  battle  was  strapped  to  Ins  saddle.  He  was  well  acquainted  with  the 
country  through  which  he  was  marching  and  around  Harrison rg.  Before 
the  war,  lie  had  surveyed  a  railroad,  and  had  been  stationed  at  the  Gov 
ernment  barracks  in  Carlisle,  and  had  been  in  Chambersburg  many  times. 
He  demanded  of  the  town  authorities  a  great  amount  of  supplies — five 
thousand  suits  of  clothing,  ten  tons  of  leather,  five  tons  of  horseshoes, 
five  thousand  bushels  of  oats,  three  tons  of  lead,  one  thousand  curry 
combs,  all  the  powder  and  percussion-caps  in  town,  one  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand  pounds  of  bread,  five  hundred  barrels  of  flour,  and  twenty-five 
of  sauerkraut,  with  beans,  vinegar,  sugar,  and  other  things.  They  searched 
houses  and  stores.  One  of  the  oificers,  Major  Todd,  of  Kentucky,  a 
brother  of  the  wife  of  Abraham  Lincoln, (3)  who  had  joined  the  Confed 
erates,  although  his  State  had  not  seceded,  attempted  to  go  into  Doctor 
Richards's  cellar,  but  was  confronted  by  Miss  Richards,  the  doctor's  brave- 
hearted  daughter,  who  seized  an  axe.  "  I  will  split  your  head  open !"  she 
said,  and  Major  Todd  thought  it  prudent  not  to  go  any  farther.  Gen 
eral  Ewell  had  a  large  package  of  Confederate  treasury -notes,  and  paid 
liberally  for  all  supplies.  General  Lee  had  issued  strict  orders  against 
plundering.  He  knew  that  there  was  nothing  more  detrimental  to  disci 
pline  than  to  permit  soldiers  to  seize  whatever  they  might  fancy.  The 
Confederate  money  was  worthless,  but  there  was  a  form  of  purchase  by 
the  proper  authority  which  preserved  the  discipline  of  the  army.  Gen 
eral  Ewell  was  very  strict.  Officers  who  became  intoxicated  were  de 
prived  of  their  commissions  and  put  into  the  ranks  as  privates. 

On  the  morning  of  June  26th  Rodes's  and  Johnson's  divisions  moved 
northward,  while  the  troops  of  A.  P.  Hill  arrived  at  Chambersburg. 
The  whole  of  the  Confederate  army,  with  the  exception  of  Stuart's  cav 
alry,  had  crossed  the  Potomac.  General  Hill  was  well  acquainted  with 
the  country,  for  he  too  had  been  at  Carlisle  before  the  war.  He  knew 
many  of  the  citizens,  and  asked  about  them.  While  he  wras  resting  in 
the  public  square  the  citizens  saw  a  man  wearing  a  suit  of  gray,  with 
stars  on  the  collar,  sitting  at  rest  in  his  saddle — a  gentleman  with  a  be 
nevolent  and  kindly  face  with  a  shade  of  sadness  and  anxiety,  accompa 
nied  by  a  large  number  of  officers — ride  up  the  street.  It  was  General 
Lee,  who  talked  with  General  Hill(4)  a  few  minutes  and  then  rode  east 
ward  to  Mr.  Messersmith's  farm,  where  his  headquarters  were  established 
in  a  beautiful  grove. 

While  General  Lee  was  going  into  camp  Early's  division  was  pass 
ing  through  Gettysburg.  General  Early  demanded  from  the  inhabitants 
sixty  barrels  of  flour,  seven  thousand  pounds  of  bacon,  and  twelve  hun- 


CONFEDERATE  NORTHWARD  MARCH. 


187 


dred  pounds  of  sugar ;  he  wanted  also  forty  bushels  of  onions,  five  hundred 
hats,  and  one  thousand  pairs  of  shoes.  If  he  could  not  have  these  he  must 
have  ten  thousand  dollars  in  money.  As  he  was  ordered  to  proceed  at 
once  to  York,  he  could  not  stop  to  collect  the  articles ;  besides,  York  was 
a  much  larger  town,  situated  in  a  rich  and  fertile  section  of  the  country, 


GENERAL   REYNOLDS. 


where  he  could  make  larger  reprisals,  with  the  probability  that  the  people 
would  comply  with  his  demand,  rather  than  that  he  should  burn  the  place. 
While  they  were  marching  through  the  town,  and  while  General  Lee 
was  resting  beneath  the  grateful  shade  of  the  oaks  near  Chambersburg, 
Mr.  Hnber,  of  Chambersburg,  was  making  his  way  along  secluded  roads, 
eluding  the  Confederates,  obtaining  horses,  riding  fast,  reaching  the  rail 


188  MARCHING   TO   VICTORY. 

road,  and  at  daylight  on  the  morning  of  the  27th  he  is  in  the  capital  at 
Ilarrisburg,  narrating  to  Governor  Curtin  what  he  has  seen,  and  the  tel 
egraph  is  conveying  the  information  to  "Washington,  and  out  to  General 
Hooker.Q 

The  army  of  the  Potomac,  the  while,  had  been  moving.  General 
Hooker  was  swinging  it  on  a  much  smaller  circle  than  that  of  the  Con 
federates.  He  was  covering  Washington  until  he  could  see  just  what 
General  Lee  was  intending  to  do.  He  was  moving  his  troops  northward, 
east  of  the  South  Mountain  range,  holding  all  the  passes.  On  Wednes 
day,  the  25th,  he  placed  the  First,  Third,  and  Eleventh  Corps  under  the 
command  of  General  Reynolds,  constituting  the  left  wing  of  the  army. 
They  crossed  the  Potomac  at  Edwards's  Ferry.  While  they  were  cross 
ing,  the  Second  Corps  was  turning  Stuart  back  at  Hay  market.  All  the 
troops  were  in  position  to  cross  the  river. 

Saturday,  June  27th,  General  Hooker  was  at  Frederick.  The  three 
corps  under  Reynolds  were  at  Middletown.  All  the  troops  were  north 
of  the  Potomac.  General  Lee  was  resting  beneath  his  tent  in  the  grove 
at  Chambersburg.  All  of  Longstreet's  and  Hill's  troops  were  near  him. 
Early  was  on  the  march  towards  York,  Rodes's  division  at  Carlisle,  John 
son's  between  Chambersburg  and  Carlisle.  (6)  General  Stuart  had  started 
once  more,  riding  south-east  around  the  southern  end  of  Bull  Run  Mount 
ains,  crossing  the  railroad  from  Alexandria  to  Culpeper  at  Bristoe  Station, 
going  on  in  the  same  direction,  crossing  the  Occoquon  River — marching 
till  he  was  almost  within  sight  of  the  Potomac  River — then  turning  north, 
crossing  the  Occoquon  again  west  of  Mount  Yernon,  passing  through 
Fairfax  Court-house,  where  Hampton's  brigade  came  upon  a  squadron  of 
Union  cavalry,  about  one  hundred  men,  under  Major  Remington.  Most 
of  the  Union  cavalrymen  were  captured.  It  had  been  a  long,  circuitous 
march  to  gain  the  rear  of  Hooker's  army.  Had  Stuart  waited  at  Rec 
tor's  Cross-roads,  he  could  have  been  at  the  same  place  on  the  evening  of 
the  27th  and  saved  a  day's  march,  for  the  Union  army  had  moved  on. 
Stuart  reached  the  Potomac  fifteen  miles  above  Washington ;  but  the 
river  had  risen,  and  the  water  was  so  deep  that  the  artillerymen  were 
obliged  to  take  the  ammunition  out  of  the  chests  and  hold  the  cartridges 
in  their  arras  while  crossing.  All  through  the  night  the  brigades  were 
plashing  through  the  water,  the  rear -guard  gaining  the  Maryland  shore 
just  at  daylight  on  Sunday  morning. 

I  was  in  Frederick,  arriving  there  before  any  of  the  troops,  with  the 
exception  of  the  cavalry — ten  thousand,  under  Pleasonton.  There  was  no 
halting  of  the  cavalry,  but  the  great  column  moved  on  through  the  streets 


CONFEDERATE   NORTHWARD   MARCH.  189 

and  out  upon  the  roads  leading  northward  towards  Pennsylvania.  Then 
came  the  Reserve  Artillery,  jarring  the  ground  with  the  rumbling  of  the 
carriages.  General  Hooker  had  so  directed  the  movements  of  the  infan 
try  that  they  did  not  enter  the  town,  but  were  moving  either  east  or  west 
of  it — all  towards  the  north. 

While  the  cannon  were  rolling  over  the  pavements  there  came  the 
pealing  of  church-bells  calling  the  people  to  worship.  The  birds  were 
singing  in  the  orchards,  the  air  fragrant  with  flowers ;  upon  all  the  sur 
rounding  hills  the  wheat  was  ripening.  It  was  a  memorable  Sunday  morn 
ing,  for  a  special  train  had  arrived  in  the  night  from  Washington  bringing 
Colonel  Hardie  with  a  letter  to  General  Hooker  and  another  to  General 
George  G.  Meade,  who  was  commanding  the  Fifth  Corps.  General  Hooker 
had  again  asked  that  General  French,  who  was  at  Harper's  Ferry  with 
eleven  thousand  men,  be  placed  under  his  command,  to  be  joined  to  the 
Twelfth  Corps,  commanded  by  General  Slocum,  that  the  force  of  more 
than  twenty  thousand  men  might  be  sent  to  gain  the  rear  of  General  Lee 
and  cut  his  communications  with  Virginia.  General  Halleck  would  not 
consent  that  the  troops  under  General  French  should  be  withdrawn  from 
Harper's  Ferry ;  he  considered  it  a  place  of  great  importance.  General 
Hooker  thereupon  had  asked  to  be  relieved  of  any  further  command  of 
the  army,  and  President  Lincoln  had  acceded  to  his  request,  and  had  ap 
pointed  General  Meade,  who  was  a  native  of  Pennsylvania,  and  who  had 
rendered  excellent  service  as  a  division  and  corps  commander. 

I  saw  General  Meade  a  few  moments  after  the  appointment  had  been 
placed  in  his  hands.  It  was  a  surprise.  ~No  one  had  thought  that  there 
could  be  such  an  event.  It  was  a  position  of  great  responsibility  which 
had  come  to  him.  He  knew  nothing  as  to  what  General  Hooker's  plans 
were ;  he  only  knew  that  the  army  was  marching ;  that  before  many  days 
there  must  be  a  great  battle.  The  army,  aside  from  the  troops  of  his  own 
corps,  knew  very  little  about  him.  He  was  standing  with  bowed  head  and 
downcast  eyes,  his  slouched  hat  drawn  down,  shading  his  features.  He 
seemed  lost  in  thought.  His  uniform  was  the  worse  for  wear  from  hard 
service ;  there  was  dust  upon  his  boots.  As  a  faithful  soldier,  loyal  to 
duty,  he  accepted  the  great  responsibility ;  while  General  Hooker,  shaking 
hands  with  him  and  with  his  officers,  with  the  tears  coursing  down  his 
cheeks,  bade  them  farewell,  entered  the  cars,  and  went  to  Baltimore,  as 
he  had  been  directed.  Patriotic,  tender,  and  pathetic  were  the  words  of 
Hooker  to  the  army  in  his  brief  farewell : 

"  Impressed  with  the  belief  that  my  usefulness  as  commander  of  the 
Army  of  the  Potomac  is  impaired,  I  part  from  it,  yet  not  without  the 


190  MARCHING  TO  VICTORY. 

deepest  emotions.  The  sorrow  of  parting  with  the  comrades  of  so  many 
battles  is  relieved  by  the  conviction  that  the  courage  and  devotion  of  this 
army  will  never  cease  nor  fail ;  that  it  will  yield  to  my  successor,  as  it  has 
to  me,  a  willing  and  hearty  support.  With  the  earnest  prayer  that  the 
triumph  of  this  army  may  bring  successes  worthy  of  it  and  the  nation,  I 
bid  it  farewell." 

Dignified,  modest,  and  unassuming  the  words  of  General  Meade  in  his 
short  address : 

"  The  country  looks  to  this  army  to  relieve  it  from  devastation  and  the 
disgrace  of  hostile  invasion.  Whatever  fatigues  and  sacrifices  we  may  be 
called  upon  to  undergo,  let  us  have  in  view  constantly  the  magnitude  of 
the  interests  involved,  and  let  each  man  determine  to  do  his  duty,  leaving 
to  an  all-controlling  Providence  the  decision  of  this  contest." 

General  Meade  made  a  tender  and  graceful  tribute  to  General  Hooker, 
"  whose  name  must  ever  be  conspicuous  in  the  history  of  the  achievements 
of  the  army." 

Notwithstanding  the  defeat  at  Chancellorsville,  the  soldiers  liked  Gen 
eral  Hooker,  and  he  had  regained  in  a  good  degree  their  confidence ;  but 
their  loyalty  was  not  to  men,  it  was  to  the  flag,  to  what  it  represented— 
the  government  of  the  people,  the  highest  advancement  which  man  had 
attained ;  and  so,  without  complaint  at  the  action  of  President  Lincoln  in 
appointing  General  Meade,  they  moved  on  in  obedience  to  orders,  knowing 
that  every  step  brought  them  nearer  to  the  Confederate  army. 

General  Halleck  did  not  like  General  Hooker,  and  had  refused  his  re 
quest  regarding  the  troops  at  Harper's  Ferry,  but,  upon  the  appointment 
of  General  Meade,  those  troops  were  placed  under  his  command.  General 
Hooker  remained  at  Baltimore  three  days,  but  hearing  nothing  from  Gen 
eral  Halleck,  went  to  Washington,  where  he  was  summarily  arrested  by 
General  Halleck,  because  he  had  not  obtained  permission  to  do  so.  The 
course  pursued  by  General  Halleck,  in  granting  to  Meade  what  he  had 
refused  to  Hooker,  and  in  ordering  Hooker's  arrest,  aroused  much  indig 
nation  throughout  the  country. 

.  During  the  evening  of  Sunday  a  wagon-train,  loaded  with  supplies,  was 
moving  west  from  Rockville,  in  Maryland,  when  the  teamsters  saw  a  body 
of  Confederate  cavalry  swooping  down  upon  them.  It  was  Stuart,  who 
captured  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  wagons.  A  little  later,  the  tele 
graph  between  Washington  and  Frederick  ceased  to  work.  Stuart  was 
cutting  the  wires.  The  Confederate  cavalrymen  were  within  a  few  miles 
of  Washington  and  Baltimore ;  but  Stuart,  instead  of  menacing  those  cities, 
was  moving  north  with  the  captured  train,  reaching  the  Baltimore  and 


CONFEDERATE   NORTHWARD  MARCH, 


191 


GENERAL  MEADE- 


Ohio  Railroad  Monday  morning,  tearing  up  the  track  and  burning  a  bridge, 
and  then  hastening  on. 

Sunday  was  not  a  day  of  rest  to  Early's  Confederate  division,  which  was 
entering  York,  Pennsylvania,  at  eleven  o'clock  in  the  forenoon,  demanding 
five  hundred  barrels  of  flour,  several  tons  of  bread,  thirty  thousand  bushels 
of  corn,  one  thousand  hats,  one  thousand  pairs  of  shoes,  a  great  variety  of 
articles,  and  one  hundred  thousand  dollars  in  money,  to  be  delivered  at 
four  o'clock,  or  the  town  would  be  set  on  fire.  No  resistance  had  been 
offered.  One  of  the  citizens  had  gone  out  several  miles  to  inform  Early 
that  he  could  take  peaceable  possession  of  the  place.  The  citizens  could 
obtain  only  twenty-eight  thousand  dollars.  Early  thereupon  issued  an 
address,  exalting  his  humanity  in  not  setting  the  town  on  fire.  He  trusted 
that  the  humane  treatment  they  had  received  at  his  hands  would  induce 
them  "  to  shake  off  the  revolting  tyranny  which  they  were  undergoing." 


192 


MARCHING  TO  VICTORY. 


General  Gordon's  brigade  of  Georgians  pushed  on  to  Wrights ville  thir 
teen  miles  on  the  western  bank  of  the  Susquehanna.  The  Georgians 
swung  their  hats  when  they  beheld  the  gleaming  water  of  the  great  river. 
They  were  to  seize  the  wooden  bridge,  a  mile  long,  which  spanned  the 
stream  between  Wrightsville  and  Columbia.  General  Early  was  thinking 
of  crossing  the  river,  passing  through  Columbia,  and  sweeping  up  the  east 
ern  bank  thirteen  miles  farther,  while  Jenkins's  cavalry  and  Rodes's  divi 
sion  advanced  from  Carlisle,  thus  seizing  Harrisburg.  But  Colonel  Frick, 
of  the  Pennsylvania  troops,  was  at  Wrightsville.  He  had  picked  up  a  few 

Union  soldiers  who  had  been  in 
battle,  and  who  were  not  to  be 
frightened  by  the  whirring  of 
shot  and  shell.  He  had  some 
militia,  and  among  them  a. com 
pany  of  colored  troops.  The  cit 
izens  of  Columbia  were  hard  at 
work  throwing  up  intrenchments 
west  of  Wrightsville  ;  they  had 


Chamlierstm 


MOVEMENT   OF   UNION   ARMY   TO   GETTYSBURG. 


no  cannon.     Colonel  Frick  \vas 
to  hold  the  place  as  long  as  he 

could,  then  retreat,  blowing  up  a  span  of  the  bridge.  Early  planted  his 
cannon  at  half-past  four.  For  more  than  an  hour  the  men  under  Colonel 
Frick  held  their  ground,  when,  seeing  that  the  Confederates,  who  outnum 
bered  them  nearly  ten  to  one,  were  about  to  gain  his  flanks,  Colonel  Frick 
ordered  his  men  to  retreat  across  the  bridge.  The  fuses  were  lighted ;  the 
powder  exploded,  but  did  not  blow  up  the  span,  and  then  the  bridge  was 
set  on  fire.  It  was  a  magnificent  spectacle — the  great  wooden  structure 
burning  through  the  evening,  illumining  all  the  surrounding  country. 

Monday  morning,  the  29th,  dawned.  General  Lee  was  still  encamped 
in  the  grove  near  Chambersburg.  He  was  wondering  what  had  become 
of  General  Stuart.  He  did  not  know  where  he  was,  neither  did  he  know 
the  whereabouts  of  the  Union  army.  A  physician  of  Chambersburg  who 
went  to  see  him  about  a  horse  that  had  been  taken  from  him,  says : 

"  Never  have  I  seen  so  much  emotion  depicted  upon  a  human  coun 
tenance.  With  his  hand  at  times  clutching  his  hair,  and  with  contracted 
brow,  he  would  walk  with  rapid  strides  for  a  few  rods,  and  then,  as  if  he 
bethought  himself  of  his  actions,  he  would,  with  a  sudden  jerk,  produce 
an  entire  change  in  his  features  and  demeanor,  and  cast  an  inquiring  gaze 
on  me,  only  to  be  followed  in  a  moment  by  the  same  contortions  of  face 
and  agitation  of  person. "(7) 


CONFEDERATE  NORTHWARD  MARCH. 


193 


BURNING   OF   COLUMBIA   BRIDGE. 

General  Lee,  with  an  instinct  common  to  officers  and  soldiers  alike  in 
both  armies,  knew  that  a  great  and  decisive  hour  was  approaching.  He 
was  in  a  strange  country,  experiencing  such  difficulties  as  all  the  Union 
commanders  had  encountered  in  Virginia  and  Tennessee  and  Mississippi. 
He  had  made  preparations  for  a  movement  to  Harrisburg ;  he  wras  igno 
rant  of  the  whereabouts  of  the  Union  army,  and  supposed  it  was  still  in 
Virginia. (8)  He  had  relied  upon  Stuart  to  keep  him  informed  as  to  the 
movements  of  the  Union  troops,  but  had  received  no  information.  Many 
Southern  writers  have  censured  Stuart  for  the  line  of  march  taken  by 
him,  claiming  that  by  going  round  in  rear  of  the  Union  army  he  placed 
himself  in  a  position  where  it  was  impossible  for  him  to  communicate 
with  General  Lee ;  but  we  are  not  to  lose  sight  of  the  fact  that  Stuart 
left  two  brigades,  Robertson's  and  Jones's,  to  watch  the  passes  of  the 
Blue  Ridge,  and  that  they  were  in  position  to  send  word  to  Lee ;  besides, 
Imboden's  large  brigade  and  Jenkins's  brigade  were  near  at  hand,  and 
portions  of  them  might  have  been  sent  east  of  the  mountains  to  watch 
for  any  advance  of  the  Union  army. 

In  Virginia  General  Lee  had  always  received  quick  information  of 
the  movements  of  the  Union  army  from  the  people  as  well  as  from  his 
cavalry ;  but  now  he  was  in  a  country  where  the  people  were  sending 
information  of  his  movements,  but  who  had  no  information  to  give  in 
regard  to  the  movements  of  the  Union  army. 

It  was  ten  o'clock  on  Monday  evening  when  the  pickets  of  Long- 
street's  corps  saw  a  man  approaching  their  lines,  whose  movements  were 
13 


194  MARCHING  TO  VICTORY. 

so  suspicious  that  they  arrested  hira.(9)  His  clothes  were  covered  witli 
mud — he  was  very  dirty,  as  if  he  had  been  on  a  long  tramp.  It  was  the 
scout  Harrison,  whom  Longstreet  had  sent  into  the  Union  lines  from 
Cnlpeper  (p.  174).  He  had  been  with  the  Union  army  all  the  way  up  to 
Frederick.  When  he  saw  the  troops  entering  that  town  he  had  started 
to  find  his  commander,  and  was  tired  out  by  his  long  tramping.  General 
Longstreet  was  asleep,  but  was  awakened  to  hear  his  story,  and  sent  the 
scout  to  General  Lee.  It  was  not  far  from  midnight  when  the  scout  re 
hearsed  his  tale  to  the  Confederate  commander-in-chief  in  his  tent  beneath 
the  oaks,  just  out  from  Chambersburg. 

We  come  to  an  interesting  hour.  It  was  startling  information.  Gen 
eral  Lee  did  not  know  that  the  Union  army  had  crossed  the  Potomac.  He 
had  issued  orders  to  move  to  Harrisburg.  Ewell,  with  two  divisions,  was 
advancing  down  the  valley,  and  was  at  Carlisle,  thirty  miles  away.  Early 
was  at  York,  on  the  banks  of  the  Susquehanna,  sixty  miles  distant.  He 
did  not  know  where  Stuart  was  —  had  heard  nothing  from  him  since 
leaving  Virginia,  but  at  that  hour  Stuart  was  nearly  sixty  miles  away, 
while  Robertson's  and  Jones's  'cavalry  brigades  were  still  in  Virginia. 
"  The  information  changed,"  says  Longstreet,  "  the  whole  plan  of  the 
campaign." 

Before  daylight,  couriers  were  riding  north  to  Carlisle  with  orders 
for  Ewell  to  turn  back,  and  southward  into  Virginia  for  Robertson  and 
Jones  to  hurry  to  Chambersburg.(10)  Orders  were  issued  to  Hill  to  move 
over  the  mountain  along  the  turnpike  towards  Gettysburg,  and  for  Long- 
street  to  follow.  It  was  a  movement  for  the  concentration  of  the  army. 

When  General  Meade  assumed  command  of  the  Union  army  on  Sun 
day,  he  only  knew  that  General  Lee  was  in  the  vicinity  of  Chambersburg. 
On  Monday  lie  learned  that  Early  was  at  Wrightsville,  that  Ewell  was 
threatening  Harrisburg,  and  that  a  large  force  of  Confederates  was  at 
Chambersburg.  He  could  only  surmise  what  Lee  intended  to  do,  and 
must  so  move  that  he  could  concentrate  his  army  at  any  point ;  to  that 
end  the  different  corps  moved  north,  spreading  out  like  a  fan  ;  the  Sixth 
Corps  took  the  road  to  Westminster,  with  Gregg's  division  of  cavalry,  to 
swing  out  upon  the  right  flank,  while  Buford's  division  hovered  on  the 
left,  the  troopers  riding  up  the  by-ways  amid  the  mountains  to  ascertain 
the  movements  of  the  Confederates. 

Like  two  storm-clouds  the  two  armies,  on  the  last  day  of  June,  were 
approaching  each  other.  I  was  riding  with  General  Hancock,  command 
ing  the  Second  Corps.  We  came  to  a  farm-housea  where,  by  the  gate-way, 
with  roses  in  bloom  around  them  and  pinks  perfuming  the  air,  stood  a 


CONFEDERATE   NORTHWARD  MARCH.  195 

mother  and  her  daughters,  with  loaves  of  bread  in  baskets  and  jars  of 
apple  -  butter  —  the  mother  cutting  great  slices  of  bread,  the  daughters 
spreading  them  with  the  sauce  and  presenting  them  to  the  soldiers. 

"  Hurrah  for  the  mother !  three  cheers  for  the  girls !"  shouted  the 
soldiers,  as  they  took  the  luscious  gifts  and  hastened  on. 

I  joined  the  Fifth  Corps.  While  passing  through  the  town  of  Liberty 
a  farmer  rode  into  the  village.  The  load  in  his  wagon  was  covered  with 
a  white  cloth. 

"  What  have  ye  got  to  sell,  old  fellow  ?  Gingerbread,  eh  ?"  said  a  sol 
dier,  raising  the  cloth  and  peeping  in.  "  What  do  ye  ask  ?" 

"  I  haven't  any  to  sell." 

"  Haven't  any  to  sell !     What  are  ye  here  for  ?" 

The  farmer  made  no  reply. 

"  See  here,  old  fellow,  won't  ye  sell  me  a  hunk  of  your  gingerbread  ?" 
said  the  soldier,  producing  an  old  wallet. 

"No." 

"  Well,  you  are  a  mean  old  cuss.  It  would  be  serving  you  right  to  tip 
up  your  old  cart.  Here  we  are  marching  all  night  and  all  day  to  protect 
your  property  and  fight  for  ye.  We  haven't  had  any  breakfast,  and  may 
not  get  any  dinner.  You  are  a  set  of  mean  cusses  round  here,  I  reckon." 

The  farmer  stood  up  on  his  wagon-seat,  took  off  the  table-cloths,  and 
said : 

"  I  didn't  bring  my  bread  here  to  sell.  My  wife  and  daughters  sat  up 
all  night  to  bake  it  for  you,  and  you  are  welcome  to  all  I've  got,  and  I 
wish  I  had  ten  times  as  much.  Help  yourselves." 

"  See  here,  my  friend,  I  take  back  all  the  hard  words  I  said  about  you," 
said  the  soldier,  shaking  hands  with  the  farmer,  who  sat  on  his  wagon  with 
tears  rolling  down  his  cheeks. 

At  daybreak  on  this  last  day  of  June  we  see  Buford's  division  of 
Union  cavalry,  Gamble's  and  Devin's  brigades,  leaving  their  bivouac  at 
the  little  village  of  Fountain  Dale  amid  the  mountains,  and  moving  north. 
Through  the  night  the  Union  pickets  have  seen  lights  gleaming  in  the 
distance  around  the  town  of  Fairfield — the  fires  of  Davis's  brigade  of 
Heth's  division  of  Hill's  Confederate  infantry ;  and  General  Buford  dis 
covers  that  the  Confederates  are  passing  through  the  mountain  defiles, 
and  moving  north-east  in  the  direction  of  Gettysburg.  He  has  but  one 
battery,  and  instead  of  attacking,  moves  south-east  to  Emmettsburg,  near 
which  he  finds  the  First  Corps,  under  General  Keynolds,  who  commands 
his  own,  the  Third,  and  Eleventh  Corps,  forming  now  the  left  wing  of  the 
army. 


196 


MARCHING  TO   VICTORY. 


"  Move  to  Gettysburg  and  hold  it,"  is  the  order  of  Reynolds,  and  we 
see  the  cavalry  going  north  over  a  turnpike,  passing  through  Gettysburg, 
turning  west  and  unsaddling  their  horses  in  the  fields  and  beautiful  groves 
around  the  Theological  Seminary,  driving  before  them  a  small  body  of 
Pettigrew's  Confederate  infantry  which  was  moving  east  into  Gettysburg 
to  obtain  supplies,  but  which  fell  back  to  Cashtown,  sending  word  to  Hill 
that  the  Union  cavalry  was  at  Gettysburg. 

At  this  evening  hour  on  the  last  day  of  June  General  Meade  is  at 
Taneytown,  thirteen  miles  south-east  of  Gettysburg.  The  First  Corps 


POSITION    OF    UNION   AND   CONFEDERATE   ARMIES,  SUNSET,  JUNE   30,  1863. 

of  his  army,  under  General  Reynolds,  is  resting  at  Marsh  Run,  seven 
miles  south  of  Gettysburg,  the  soldiers  boiling  their  coffee  beneath  the 
shade  of  the  trees,  the  artillerymen  watering  their  horses  in  the  stream. 
The  Eleventh  Corps,  under  General  Howard,  is  in  the  fields  around  Em- 
raettsburg,  three  miles  farther  south,  on  the  boundary  between  Mary 
land  and  Pennsylvania.  The  Third  Corps,  under  General  Sickles,  is 
at  Bridgeport,  five  miles  south-east  of  Emmettsburg,  on  the  road  to  Ta 
neytown. 

The  Second  Corps  (General  Hancock)  is  with  General  Meade  at  Taney 
town  ;  the  Twelfth  Corps  (General  Slocum)  is  at  Littlestown,  six  miles 
north-east  of  Taneytown  ;  the  Fifth  Corps  (General  Sykes)  at  Union  Mills, 
seven  miles  east  of  Taneytown ;  the  Sixth  Corps  (General  Sedgwick)  at 
Manchester,  seven  miles  still  farther  east,  thirty- two  miles  from  Gettysburg. 


CONFEDERATE   NORTHWARD   MARCH.  197 

On  the  morning  of  the  30th  of  June  Swell's  three  Confederate  divis 
ions  started  towards  Gettysburg,  Rodes's  and  Johnson's  marching  south 
from  Carlisle ;  Early  south-west  over  the  turnpike  from  York ;  march 
ing  so  rapidly  that  in  the  evening  they  were  at  Heidleroburg,  only  ten 
miles  from  Gettysburg.  Hill  had  crossed  the  mountains  with  Heth's 
and  Fender's  divisions.  Anderson's  division  was  on  the  western  slope 
at  Green  wood.  Longstreet  moved  to  Greenwood  with  Hood's  and 
McLaws's  divisions  —  ten  miles  east  of  Chambersburg — leaving  Pick- 
ett's  division  to  guard  the  long  trains  of  supplies  and  ammunition.  Gen 
eral  Lee  had  left  the  grove  at  Chambersburg,  and  was  at  Greenwood 
with  Longstreet,  his  trusted  lieutenant.  The  Confederate  army,  aside 
from  the  cavalry,  was  much  better  concentrated  than  the  army  of  General 
Meade. 

it  probably  never  will  be  known  just  how  many  men  there  were  in 
the  Confederate  and  Union  armies  advancing  towards  Gettysburg.  The 
official  returns  do  not  give  the  true  numbers,  on  account  of  changes  made 
after  taking  the  returns  and  before  the  arrival  at  Gettysburg. 

When  the  Confederate  army  reached  Chambersburg,  Mr.  Messersrnith, 
cashier  of  the  bank,  undertook  to  ascertain  the  number,  making  a  tally  of 
each  hundred.  An  officer  saw  what  he  was  doing  and  ordered  him  to 
stop.  Mr.  Messersmith  bowed,  but  went  to  his  barn,  obtained  a  hundred 
kernels  of  corn,  holding  them  in  his  hand  in  his  trousers  -  pocket,  drop 
ping  a  kernel  for  every  hundred.  When  his  hand  was  empty,  ten  thou 
sand  had  passed.  Then  he  gathered  them  up  and  dropped  them  again. 
Through  the  day  he  stood  upon  the  steps  of  the  bank  counting  the  pass 
ing  troops.  He  estimated  the  number  at  sixty  thousand,  which  did  not 
include  Early's  division  or  Stuart's  cavalry.  The  Confederate  army  had 
advanced  slowly  from  the  Potomac,  and  the  ranks  had  been  kept  closed. 
There  were  few  stragglers. 

The  Union  army  had  made  rapid  marches  after  crossing  the  Potomac, 
and  a  great  many  soldiers  had  straggled  from  the  ranks.  I  saw  many  drop 
by  the  roadside  on  the  march  from  Frederick  northward.  The  week 
after  the  battle  I  rode  from  Westminster,  north-west  of  Baltimore,  to 
Boonsboro,  beyond  South  Mountain,  and  I  saw  many  Union  soldiers  who 
had  straggled,  and  who  had  not  returned  to  their  regiments.  From  the 
many  stragglers  there  seen,  I  judge  that  not  less  than  five  thousand,  and 
possibly  many  more  than  that  number,  had  dropped  from  the  ranks.  The 
Confederate  cavalry,  including  Imboden's  and  Jenkins's  brigades,  num 
bered  not  far  from  thirteen  thousand ;  the  Union  cavalry,  about  eleven 
thousand. (")  The  Confederate  army  had  two  hundred  and  eighty-seven 


198 


MARCHING  TO  VICTORY. 


cannon,  the  Union  army  three  hundred  and  seventy.  It  is  probable  that 
the  Confederate  army  numbered  not  far  from  seventy-five  thousand,  the 
Union  army  about  eighty  thousand. 

While  the  cavalry  of  General  Buford  were  unsaddling  their  horses 
in   the   grove   around   the   Lutheran  Theological  Seminary  on  the   last 


MAJOR-GENERAL   BUFORD. 


night  of  June,  there  was  another  scene  far  away  across  the  Atlantic  in 
the  great  hall  of  the  House  of  Commons,  where  Mr.  Roebuck  was 
delivering  a  speech  favoring  the  recognition  of  the  Confederate  States 
as  a  nation  by  England.(12)  These  his  words :  "  We  should  acknowledge 
the  South  because  they  have  won  their  freedom,  and  because  it  is  for  our 
interest.  It  is  not  Richmond  that  is  now  in  peril,  but  Washington ;  and 


CONFEDERATE   NORTHWARD   MARCH.  199 

if  there  be  terrors  anywhere  it  is  in  the  minds  of  the  merchants  of  New 
York  [cheers]." 

Far  into  the  night  the  discussion  went  on.  Nearly  all  the  speakers 
believed  that  the  Southern  States  would  gain  their  independence;  the 
people  of  the  South  had  their  sympathies,  but  the  time  had  not  come  for 
decisive  action ;  it  would  be  better  for  England  to  wait  a  little  and  see 
what  would  come  from  the  invasion  of  Pennsylvania. 

Off  the  coast  of  Brazil,  in  South  America,  in  the  great  highway  of  com 
merce,  where  the  ships  of  all  nations  were  furrowing  the  Atlantic,  the  Ala 
bama  was  waiting  for  her  prey,  lighting  the  ocean  with  burning  vessels, 
sweeping  the  commerce  of  the  United  States  from  the  seas,  securing  the 
carrying  trade  of  the  world  to  the  merchants,  ship-builders,  and  s'ailors  of 
Great  Britain. 

The  armies  of  France  are  in  the  city  of  Mexico,  and  Louis  Napoleon 
is  preparing  a  throne  for  Maximilian  of  Austria.  If  the  impending 
battle  shall  result  in  defeat  to  the  Union  army,  what  attitude  will  Great 
Britain  and  France  assume  towards  the  United  States?  Will  they  not 
recognize  the  Confederacy  as  a  nation  ?  We  approach  a  great  turning- 
point  in  the  history  of  our  country. 


NOTES   TO   CHAPTER   X. 

( *)  McClellan,  "  Campaigns  of  Stuart,"  p.  316. 

( 2)  General  Lee's  Letter  of  June  23d,  5  P.M. 

( 3)  Hoke,  "Great  Invasion,"  p.  143. 

( 4)  Idem,  p.  162. 
( a)  Idem,  p.  164. 

( 6)  McClellan,  "  Campaigns  of  Stuart,"  p.  322. 

( 7)  J.  L.  Snesseratt,  "Great  Invasion,"  p.  205. 

( 8)  General  Lee's  Report. 

( 9)  Longstreet, "  Annals  of  the  War,"  p.  419. 

(10)  Idem. 

(n)  General  Hunt,  Century  Magazine,  November,  1886. 
(15)  London  Times,  July  1, 1863. 


200  MARCHING  TOVICTOKY. 


CHAPTER  XL 

AN  UNEXPECTED  BATTLE. 

IT  is  a  beautiful  grove  of  oak  and  hickory  crowning  the  ridge  upon 
which  stands  the  Lutheran  Theological  Seminary,  three-fourths  of  a 
mile  west  of  the  village  of  Gettysburg.  Going  north-west  along  the  Chain- 
bersburg  turnpike  from  the  ridge,  we  come  to  Mr.  McPherson's  farm 
house  and  large  barn.  Passing  this  we  descend  to  Willoughby  Run  and 
the  toll-gate ;  crossing  the  run,  ascending  a  gentle  slope  a  quarter  of  a 
mile,  and  we  are  at  the  tavern  of  Mr.  Herr. 

By  the  side  of  the  turnpike,  a  few  rods  north,  is  an  unfinished  railroad, 
with  a  cut  through  Seminary  Ridge  nearly  twenty  feet  deep,  and  there  is 
an  embankment  partly  completed  across  Willoughby  Run. 


THEOLOGICAL   SEMINARY. 


We  look  over  a  beautiful  country — broad  and  fertile  fields  which,  on 
the  midsummer  days  of  1863,  were  waving  with  wheat  ripe  for  the  reaper, 
or  clover  waiting  for  the  mower. 

Through  the  night  couriers  were  coming  and  going  over  all  the  roads 
around  Gettysburg.  The  pickets  of  Buford's  cavalry  were  along  Willough 
by  Run.  General  Buford,  from  the  cupola  of  the  seminary,  looking 
westward,  could  see  the  glimmering  camp-fires  of  A.  P.  Hill's  corps  in 


AN   UNEXPECTED   BATTLE.  201 

the  fields  of  Cashtown.  General  Buford  had  but  two  brigades — Gamble's 
and  Devin's — less  than  three  thousand  men,  with  only  one  battery  of  artil 
lery,  A,  Second  United  States,  Captain  Tidball,  commanded  by  Lieutenant 
Calef.  He  had  been  ordered  to  hold  Gettysburg,  and  he  placed  Gam 
ble's  brigade  south  of  the  turnpike  and  Devin's  north  of  it,  secreting  the 
horses  in  the  woods,  and  deploying  the  men  as  infantry,  resolving  to  make 
Willoughby  Run  his  line  of  defence.  He  was  very  sure  that  the  Confed 
erates  would  advance  from  Cashtown  and  attack  him  in  the  morning.  He 
sent  his  videttes  out  to  Marsh  Creek,  nearly  two  miles,  and  had  pickets  on 
all  the  roads,  and  sent  messengers  to  General  Reynolds,  of  the  First  Corps, 
who  was  seven  miles  south,  also  on  Marsh  Run — the  same  stream — and 
a  messenger  to  Taneytown,  informing  General  Meade  that  he  was  con 
fronted  by  the  Confederates^1) 

Before  the  sun  appeared  above  the  eastern  horizon  the  troops  of 
Heth's  division  of  A.  P.  Hill's  corps  of  Confederates  were  awakened  by 
the  morning  drum-beat. (2)  They  ate  their  breakfast  and  filed  into  the 
turnpike,  and  began  their  march  eastward  towards  Gettysburg.  At  Marsh 
Run  they  came  upon  Buford's  videttes,  who  fell  back  to  Willoughby  Run. 

It  was  eight  o'clock,  and  the  sun's  rays  were  glinting  from  the 
spires  of  the  town,  when  a  cavalryman  came  riding  down  the  hill  past 
Heir's  Tavern,  informing  Buford  that  the  Confederates  were  coming.(3)  A 
few  moments  later  and  Marye's  battery  from  Fredericksburg,  Virginia, 
belonging  to  Pegram's  battalion  of  artillery,  came  to  a  halt  in  front  of  the 
tavern.  The  Confederates  could  see  men  in  blue  uniforms  in  the  fields 
east  of  Willoughby  Run.  The  cannoneers  jumped  from  their  limbers, 
wheeled  their  cannon,  and  sent  a  shell  whirring  across  the  stream. 

A  moment  later  Lieutenant  Rodes,  commanding  two  gnns  of  Calef's 
battery  in  the  road  on  the  crest  of  the  ridge  north  of  McPherson's  house, 
gave  an  order  to  fire,  and  a  shell  went  flying  westward  towards  Ilerr's 
Tavern.  The  great  battle  had  begun.  No  one  had  selected  the  ground. 
Buford  had  been  directed  to  hold  Gettysburg,  and  was  obeying.  Heth 
had  been  ordered  to  advance  to  Gettysburg,  and  was  also  obeying  orders. 
General  Lee,  when  in  Fredericksburg,  before  setting  out  to  invade  Penn 
sylvania,  had  determined  to  fight  a  defensive  battle,  but  the  conflict  had 
begun  of  itself  upon  ground  which  no  one  had  selected ;  so  in  war  events 
shape  themselves,  overturning  well-laid  plans. 

Calef  placed  the  centre  section,  two  guns,  under  Sergeant  Newman,  in 
the  field  south  of  the  turnpike,  and  sent  Lieutenant  Pugel,  with  the  other 
two  cannon,  through  McPherson's  woods,  farther  south,  and  the  cannon 
ade  opened  vigorously. 


202 


MARCHING  TO  VICTORY. 


General  Heth  directed  General  Archer,  with  his  brigade,  to  file  into 
the  field  south  of  the  tavern,  and  General  Davis  to  deploy  between  the 
turnpike  and  the  railroad  on  the  north.  The  Confederates  descended 
the  slope  towards  Willoughby  Run,  when  suddenly  from  the  grove,  from 
fence  and  thicket,  there  came  a  volley  of  musketry  which  arrested  their 
advance.  The  fire  was  so  determined  that  General  Heth  believed  he  was 
confronted  by  a  column  of  infantry. 

General  Heth  sent  word  to  General  Hill  that  he  had  encountered  a 

» 

strong  force,  and  Hill  ordered  General  Fender  to  advance.  While  that 
division  was  on  its  way  from  Cashtown  the  cannonade  went  on  between 
Calef's  six  guns  and  seventeen  Confederate  cannon,  accompanied  by  a 


WHERE   THE    BATTLE   BEGAN. 

The  view  is  on  the  Chambersburg  turnpike,  from  the  spot  where  Calefs  battery  stood.  The  figure  is 
pointing  to  Herr's  Tavern,  beyond  Willonghby  Run,  where  the  Confederate  battery  was  planted.  Archer's 
brigade  deployed  in  the  fields  to  the  left  of  the  tavern,  Davis's  to  the  right.  At  eleven  o'clock  and  during  the 
afternoon  the  battle  raged  in  the  fields  to  the  right  and  left  of  the  figure. 

rattling  fire  of  musketry  along  Willoughby  Kun.(5)  From  the  cupola  of 
the  seminary  General  Buford  looks  down  upon  the  scene,  casting  anxious 
glances  over  the  green  fields  southward.  He  sees  a  group  of  horsemen 
coming  up  the  Emmettsburg  road,  and  still  farther  away  the  sunlight 
glints  from  gun-barrel  and  bayonet.  The  foremost  horseman  is  General 
Reynolds,  followed  by  his  staff,  and  the  dark  column  is  Wadsworth's  divis 
ion.  Buford  has  already  sent  a  cavalryman  to  guide  them.  They  leave 
the  turnpike  at  Mr.  Codori's  house  and  turn  north-west  across  the  fields. 
General  Reynolds  hastens  to  the  seminary  and  shakes  hands  with  Buford. 
Last  evening  he  was  sad  and  dejected,  as  if  weighed  down  with  a  sense 
of  great  responsibility,  or  of  a  premonition  that  his  life-work  was  almost 
ended ;  but  now  every  sense  is  quickened.  He  ascends  the  stairs  to  the 
cupola  and  sweeps  the  landscape  with  his  glass.  Northward  is  a  beau- 


AN   UNEXPECTED  BATTLE. 


203 


OPENING  OF  BATTLE  AT  GET 
TYSBURG,  8  A.M.,  JULY  1, 
1863. 


tiful  plain  dotted  with  farm-houses,  crossed  by  fences,  traversed  by  the 

roads  north  to  Carlisle,  north -east  to  Harrisburg,  north-west,  over  Oak 

Ridge,  to  Mnmmasburg ;  behind  him  is  the  town ;  east  of  it,  Cemetery 

Hill,  the  marble  head-stones  standing  out  clean  and  white  in  the  morning 

sun  ;  beyond  it,  crowned  with  a  forest,  is  Gulp's 

Hill ;  southward  from  the  cemetery  is  Zeigler's 

grove   of   oaks  and  a  gentle   ridge,  changing 

to  a  rocky,  wooded  hill  —  Little  Round  Top 

— with  Great  Round  Top  beyond.      It  is   an 

enchanting   landscape.      Southward   from    the 

seminary    extends    the    ridge    upon    which    it 

stands,  thickly  covered  with  oaks.     Westward, 

almost  beneath  him,  are  Buford's  hard-pressed 

lines,  with  Calef's   battery   sending   shot   and 

shell    across   Willoughby   Run,  while    on    the 

Chambersburg  pike  are  the  advancing  columns  of  Fender's  division. 

At  last,  after  many  days  of  weary  marching,  the  two  armies  are  to  meet 
by  chance  upon  a  field  which  Buford,  by  the  terms  of  his  orders  from 
Reynolds,  has  seen  fit  to  hold.  Couriers  ride  down  the  Emmettsburg  road 
with  orders  from  Reynolds  to  the  other  two  divisions  of  the  First  Corps, 
and  to  General  Howard,  commanding  the  Eleventh,  to  hasten  to  Gettysburg. 

Marsh  Run,  upon  which  Buford's  pickets  began  the  fight,  runs  south 
east,  and  crosses  the  Emmettsburg  road  five  miles  south.  Wadsworth's 
division  had  bivouacked  on  its  banks  —  Meredith's  brigade  on  the  north, 
Cutlers  on  the  south  side  of  the  stream.  General  Cutler,  ever  prompt, 
was  ready  when  the  hour  for  marching  arrived.  He  crossed  the  bridge 
and  took  the  lead  of  the  column,  the  soldiers  carrying  one  day's  rations 
in  their  haversacks  and  sixty  rounds  in  their  cartridge-boxes. 

A  cavalryman  comes  clattering  down  the  turnpike  with  an  order  to 
General  Wadsworth  to  march  across  the  fields  upon  the  double-quick. 

"  Pioneers  to  the  front !"  is  the  order,  and  the  men  who  carry  axes 
run  ahead,  tear  down  the  rails,  and  the  column  turns  into  the  field. (8) 

"Load  at  will!  Forward!  Double-quick!"  and  the  men  go  upon  the 
run  through  the  meadows,  the  pioneers  clearing  the  way,  Hall's  Second 
Maine  Battery  dashing  ahead,  the  horses  upon  the  gallop,  ascending  the 
hill,  passing  the  seminary,  wheeling  into  position  on  the  north  side  of 
the  turnpike  in  line  with  Calef's.(7) 

As  the  brigade  goes  across  the  fields  they  see  an  old  gray-haired  man 
who  fought  in  the  Mexican  war  coming  across  the  meadow  from  his  small 
one -story  house  on  the  Chambersburg  road  at  the  western  end  of  the 


204 


MARCHING  TO  VICTORY. 


JOHN  BURNS. 

town.  He  has  his  gun  in  hand,  and  joins  the  ranks  of  the  One  Hun 
dred  and  Fiftieth  Pennsylvania  regiment.  It  is  John  Burns,  who  does 
not  wait  to  be  enrolled,  but  fights  valiantly  till  wounded. 

In  the  ranks  of  Baxter's  brigade,  advancing  from  Emmettsburg,  is  a 
boy  from  that  town  marching  with  the  men  of  the  Twelfth  Massachusetts 
— J.  "W".  Weakly.  He  has  obtained  a  gun,  a  soldier's  cap,  and  a'  blue 
blouse.  His  blood  is  up,  and  he  is  determined  to  fight  the  Confederates. 
He  is  thin  and  pale,  and  not  very  strong.  He  wants  to  be  mustered  in 
as  a  soldier,  and  Colonel  Bates,  commanding  the  regiment,  has  accepted 
him.  ^Before  night  he  will  be  lying  upon  the  field,  his  young  blood 
staining  the  green  grass  from  a  wound  in  his  right  arm  and  another  in 
his  thigh. 


AN  UNEXPECTED  BATTLE. 


205 


When  Baxter's  brigade  reached  Codorrs  house  and  turned  into  the 
fields  they  gave  a  cheer.  Some  of  the  men  who  had  been  detailed  to 
guard  the  wagon  expressed  their  dissatisfaction. (8) 

"What  is  this  row  about?"  asked  General  Baxter. 

"  We  want  to  go  to  our  regiment  if  there  is  to  be  any  fighting." 

44  Oh,  is  that  it?  Very  well ;  if  that  is  the  case,  you  are  just  the  men 
I  want."  Across  the  fields  they  go  upon  the  run  to  join  their  respective 
commands. 


JOHN  BURNS  BROUGHT   TO   HIS  HOUSE   AFTER   THE   BATTLE. 

While  Cutler's  and  Meredith's  men  are  coining  up  the  eastern  slope  of 
the  ridge,  let  us  go  over  to  Willoughby  Run  and  take  a  look  at  Heth's  ad 
vance.  South  of  the  turnpike  Archer's  brigade,  finding  only  dismounted 
cavalrymen  in  front  of  them,  has  passed  on,  crossed  the  stream,  and  is  driv 
ing  Gamble  step  by  step  back  towards  the  seminary.  North  of  the  turn 
pike  Davis's  brigade  is  sweeping  across  the  fields,  compelling  Devin  to 
fall  back.  From  Herr's  Tavern  Pegram's  sixteen  guns  are  sending  shot 
and  shell  upon  Calef's  and  Devin's  unprotected  men.  Fender's  division 
is  deploying  in  the  fields  by  Herr's  Tavern. 

At  this  moment  Archer's  men  were  advancing  upon  one  of  the  guns 
of  Calef's  battery,  shooting  four  of  Sergeant  Newman's  horses,  but  the 
gunners  took  hold  of  the  cannon  and  dragged  it  back. 

General   Reynolds   leads   Cutler's   brigade    in    person    into    position, 


206 


MARCHING  TO  VICTORY. 


stationing  the  Seventy-sixth  New  York  regiment,  Fifty-sixth  Pennsylva 
nia,  and  One  Hundred  and  Forty-seventh  New  York  north  of  the  railroad 
excavation,  while  General  Wadsworth  places  the  Fourteenth  and  Ninety- 
fifth  New  York  south  of  it,  to  support  the  battery. 

Up  through  the  green  field  advances  Davis's  Confederate  brigade, 
following  the  retreating  cavalry.  Before  Cutler's  regiments  are  in  posi 
tion  men  begin  to  fall  from  the  ranks.  The  atmosphere  is  thick  with 
the  drifting  cannon-smoke.  General  Cutler  with  his  glass  looks  down 
towards  Willoughby  Run.(9) 

"  Is  that  the  enemy  ?"  Colonel  Hoffman,  of  the  Fifty-sixth  Pennsylva 
nia,  inquires. 
"  Yes." 

"  Ready  !  Right  oblique !  Aim  !  Fire  !"  are  his  orders,  and  a  volley 
crashes  upon  the  air;  a  volley  from  Davis's  Confederate  brigade  is  the 
response. 

General  Meredith's  brigade  followed  Cutler's  in  the  march  from  Marsh 
Run.(10)  Cutler's  had  passed  up  the  ridge  and  taken 
position  north  of  the  seminary.  A  staff-officer  sent 
by  Reynolds  conducted  Meredith  into  position.  The 
Second  Wisconsin  was  in  advance  upon  the  run,  and 
passed  south  of  the  house  of  Mr.  Shultz,  into  the 
woods  of  McPherson,  coining  forward  by  company 
into  line,  the  men  loading  their  guns  while  upon  the 
run.(")  The  cavalry  were  falling  back.  The  Con 
federates  under  Archer  had  crossed  Willoughby  Run, 
picking  their  way  through  the  thicket  and  tangled 
vines  along  its  banks,  and  forming  on  the  eastern 
side.  In  an  instant  the  conflict  began  at  close 
range,  the  Second  Wisconsin  firing  a  volley  before 

the  other  Union  regiments  came  into  position.  The  volley  was  almost 
simultaneous  with  that  of  the  Fifty-sixth  Pennsylvania. 

It  was  ten  o'clock — probably  a  few  minutes  past  the  hour.  General 
Reynolds,  having  placed  Cutler's  brigade  in  position  up  by  the  turnpike 
with  Hall's  battery,  relieving  Calef's,  came  riding  down  through  McPher- 
son's  field  into  the  woods.  General  Doubleday,  who  had  commanded  the 
third  division  of  the  First  Corps,  but  who  had  been  appointed  by  Reyn 
olds  to  command  the  corps  while  he  directed  the  movements  of  the  left 
wing,  came  galloping  with  his  staff  over  the  fields  from  Codori's  house  to 
the  Fairfield  road,  stopping  there,  and  sending  a  staff-officer  to  Reynolds 
for  instructions.  "Tell  Doubleday  that  I  will  hold  the  Chambersburg 


BEGINNING  OF  INFAN 
TRY  ENGAGEMENT,  10 
A.M.,  JULY  1,1863. 


AN   UNEXPECTED  BATTLE.  207 

pike,  and  he  must  hold  the  road  where  he  is."(12)  The  air  is  thick  with 
bullets.  Reynolds  is  a  conspicuous  figure  on  his  horse.  The  Confederates 
are  but  a  few  rods  distant,  and  can  see  that  he  is  giving  directions.  A 
soldier  singles  him  out,  and  fires  a  bullet  which  passes  through  his  brain. 
He  falls  from  his  horse  dead,  speaking  no  word,  uttering  no  cry.  At  the 
beginning  of  the  battle  the  Union  troops  lost  a  commander  of  such  emi 
nence  and  ability  that  President  Lincoln  had  thought  of  appointing  him 
to  the  command  instead  of  Meade.(13) 

The  sad  news  runs  along  the  lines  of  the  "  Iron  Brigade,"  as  Meredith's 
has  been  called,  and  the  men  are  determined  to  avenge  his  death. (u) 
Archer's  Confederate  brigade  is  before  them  ;  it  had  crossed  Willoughby 
Run.  "  Forward  !  Charge  !"  was  Meredith's  command,  and  the  line  went 
forward,  striking  Archer's  line  partly  in  flank,  crumbling  it  in  an  instant, 
capturing  a  large  portion  of  the  First  Tennessee,  together  with  General 
Archer,  and  sweeping  the  entire  brigade  into  the  field  on  the  other  side  of 
the  stream. 

At  this  moment  the  battle  was  waxing  hot  between  Davis's  Confeder 
ate  brigade  and  Cutler's  by  the  railroad.  Davis  was  advancing  through 
the  field,  sending  the  Fifty -fifth  North  Carolina  north  of  the  railroad, 
which  attacked  the  flank  of  the  two  regiments  which  Reynolds  had  placed 
north  of  the  excavation.  Three  Mississippi  regiments  were  between  the 
railroad  and  the  turnpike. 

General  Wadsworth  gave  an  order  for  Cutler  to  fall  back.  The  two 
regiments  north  of  the  railroad  obeyed,  and  retired  towards  the  town,  but 
the  order  did  not  reach  the  other  regiments  of  the  brigade  by  McPher- 
son's  house.  Lieutenant  -  colonel  Miller,  commanding  the  One  Hundred 
and  Forty-seventh  New  York,  received  it,  but  before  he  could  issue  it  fell 
insensible.  Major  Harney,  who  succeeded  to  the  command,  knew  nothing 
of  it.  The  Mississippians  were  coming  through  the  railroad  excavation 
east  of  Willoughby  Run. 

The  One  Hundred  and  Forty-seventh  New  York,  left  alone  by  the  rail 
road,  ignorant  of  any  order  to  fall  back,  still  continued  the  contest  till 
more  than  one  half  were  killed  or  wounded,  when  the  order  came  again 
for  them  to  fall  back. 

In  the  field  between  the  railroad  and  the  turnpike  is  Hall's  battery, 
in  great  danger  at  this  moment,  for  the  Mississippians  are  streaming  along 
the  railroad  to  gain  its  rear.(15) 

"  Take  your  guns  to  the  rear  and  open  fire  upon  them,"  is  Hall's  com 
mand  to  Lieutenant  Ulmer,  who  starts  with  two  pieces,  gains  a  new  posi 
tion,  but  before  he  can  fire  all  the  horses  of  one  piece  are  shot  down. 


208 


MARCHING   TO  VICTORY. 


but  the  men  dragged  the  gun  to  the  rear.  The  other  pieces,  one  by  one, 
are  sent  to  the  rear,  except  the  last,  which  Hall  is  obliged  to  leave,  the 
Confederates  shooting  all  the  horses. 

The  Fourteenth  and  Ninety -fifth  New  York  are  by  McPherson's  house, 
facing  west,  but  they  fall  back,  change  front  and  face  north,  having  no 
intention  of  abandoning  their  position.  The  Sixth  Wisconsin,  belonging 
to  Meredith's  brigade,  is  in  their  rear  towards  the  seminary.  Doubleday 
sends  it  north,  and  it  comes  in  on  the  right  of  the  other  two  regiments. 
The  Mississippians  also  change  front  and  run  into  the  railroad  exca 
vation. 

Colonel  Fowler,  of  the  Fourteenth  New  York,  had  been  placed  in  com 
mand  of  three  regiments  by  General  Doubleday.  The  regiments  are  by 
the  turnpike  fence ;  a  sheet  of  flame  bursts  from  their  muskets.  The 
Union  men  tear  down  the  fence  and  rush  towards  the  excavation.  Men 
drop,  but  others  go  on.  Adjutant  Brooks  and  a  portion  of  the -Sixth  Wis 
consin  rush  to  the  eastern  end  of  the  excava 
tion,  and  fire  a  volley  through  the  cut  upon 
the  Mississippians,  who  find  themselves  in  a 
trap,  with  a  fire  rained  upon  them  and  the 
eastern  end  closed.  They  throw  down  their 
guns  and  surrender,  while  the  remainder  of 
Davis's  brigade  retreats  to  Willoughby  Run. 
At  this  moment  Wads  worth,  who  has  retired 
with  the  other  regiments  towards  Gettysburg, 
is  coming  back  to  re-establish  his  line.(16) 

This  the  contest  of  the  morning,  in  which 
the  advantage   has  been   on  the  side   of  the 

Union  troops.  In  the  charge  the  Ninety -seventh  New  York  lost  one 
hundred  and  sixty  men. 

It  was  nearly  eleven  o'clock,  and  for  a  time  there  was  a  lull — the  calm 
ness  which  precedes  a  fiercer  contest — the  period  of  preparation. 

Looking  down  the  Emmettsburg  road  we  see  the  other  two  divisions  of 
the  First  Corps  —  Rowley's  and  Robinson's  —  with  the  artillery,  turning 
from  the  road  near  the  house  of  Mr.  Codori,  and  moving  towards  the  sem 
inary.  Not  far  behind  them  is  General  Howard  and  his  staff,  who  see 
the  battle-cloud  rising  above  the  green  foliage.  The  general  turns  to  the 
right,  rides  to  the  cemetery,  where  the  white  marble  head-stones  crown 
the  apex  of  the  hill  east  of  the  town,  and  sweeps  the  landscape  with  his 
glass,  noting  how  commanding  the  situation.  To  his  right,  not  far  away,  is 
Culp's  Hill.  In  the  east,  down  the  Baltimore  pike,  is  Wolf's  Hill.  Can- 


CAPTURE  OF  CONFEDERATES 
IN  THE  RAILROAD  AT  GET 
TYSBURG. 


AN    UNEXPECTED    BATTLE. 


209 


non  planted  in  the  cemetery  and  north  of  it  can  be  made  to  sweep  a  large 
portion  of  the  circle. 

u  This  seems  to  be  a  good  position,  colonel,"  he  remarked  to  Colonel 
Mysenburg.(17) 

u  It  is  the  only  position,"  was  the  reply. 

The  topographical  advantages  were  plain.  It  is  no  reflection  upon  Bu- 
ford  or  Reynolds  that  they  did  not  select  it.  Buford  was  ordered  to  hold 
the  town.  He  bivouacked  in  the  proper  place  to  carry  out  his  orders,  and 
was  attacked  while  there,  and  Reynolds  came  to  his  support.  There  had 
been  no  selection  of  a  place. 


RAILROAD   EXCAVATION. 

The  view  is  from  the  west,  looking  towards  the  position  occupied  by  the  Union  troops.  The  Cham- 
bersburg  turnpike  is  at  the  right,  and  the  Union  troops  charged  across  the  field  from  the  turnpike  to  the 
railroad.  Cemetery  Hill,  east  of  Gettysburg,  is  seen  in  the  far  distance  along  the  railroad  track. 

General  Howard  rode  through  the  town.  Leaving  his  horse  he  climbed 
a  stair-way  to  the  observatory  of  Pennsylvania  College,  spread  out  his  map 
and  examined  it.  An  officer  came  galloping  down  the  street  with  the  sad 
and  disheartening  information  that  General  Reynolds  was  wounded.  Soon 
he  was  informed  that  Reynolds  was  dead,  and  that  the  command  devolved 
upon  him.  In  a  moment  he  was  invested  with  the  command  of  the  right 
wing  of  the  army,  with  the  responsibility  of  conducting  a  battle  already 
begun. 

For  the  remainder  of  the  day  General  Doubleday  commanded  the  First 
Corps,  and  General  Schurz  the  Eleventh. 


210 


MARCHING  TO  VICTORY. 


At  eleven  o'clock  Doubleday  was  placing  Rowley  and  Robinson  in  po 
sition  on  Seminary  Ridge.  Barlow's  division  of  the  Eleventh  Corps  was 
still  far  down  the  Einmettsburg  road — its  way  blocked  by  the  wagons  of 
the  First  Corps.  Steinwehr's  and  Schnrz's  divisions  were  nearer,  ap 
proaching  by  the  Taneytown  road. 

General  Howard  directed  Stein wehr  to  take  possession  of  Cemetery  Hill, 
while  Schurz  passed  through  the  town  and  marched  north-east  along  the 
road  to  Mummasburg,  deploying  in  the  fields. 


PENNSYLVANIA    COLLEGE. 

Leaving  the  scenes  of  Gettysburg  for  the  moment  and  going  over  the 
Chainbersburg  turnpike,  we  find  General  Lee  at  Cash  town.  He  has  been 
riding  with  General  Longstreet.  They  have  heard  the  cannonade,  and 
General  Lee  hastens  over  the  hills  and  reaches  General  Anderson,  who  is 
at  Cashtown.  The  firing  is  deep  and  heavy  from  the  Confederate  batter 
ies  at  Herr's  Tavern  and  Hall's  Second  Maine  Battery.  They  can  hear 
the  rolls  of  musketry. (18)  General  Lee  is  depressed  in  spirits.  These  his 
words :  "  I  cannot  think  what  has  become  of  Stuart.  I  ought  to  have 
heard  from  him  long  before  now.  He  may  have  met  with  disaster,  but  I 
hope  not.  In  the  absence  of  reports  from  him  I  am  in  ignorance  as  to 


AN   UNEXPECTED  BATTLE. 


211 


GEN.  O.  O.  HOWARD. 


what  we  have  in  front  of  us  here.  It  may  be  the  whole  Federal  army,  or 
it  may  be  only  a  detachment.  If  it  is  the  whole  Federal  force,  we  must 
fight  a  battle  here.  If  we  do  not  gain  a  victory,  those  defiles  and  gorges 
through  which  we  passed  this  morning  will  shelter  us  from  disaster."  He 
rides  on  towards  the  scene  of  conflict. 

It  was  Genera]  Howard's  intention  to  post  the  Eleventh  Corps  on 
Oak  Hill,  the  high  elevation  north  of  the  railroad,  the  extension  of  Semi 
nary  Ridge,  crowned  with  oaks ;  but  Buford's  cavalry  videttes  came  riding 
in  from  the  north  with  the  startling  information  that  the  Confederates  in 
great  force  were  advancing  on  the  Carlisle  road.  Howard  had  supposed 
the  only  Confederates  before  him  were  those  of  Hill's  corps ;  this  new 
force  must  be  the  advance  of  Ewell.  It  was  reported  that  the  Twelfth 


212 


MARCHING  TO  VICTORY. 


Corps  was  only  five  miles  distant  at  Two  Taverns,  and  word  was  sent  to 
inform  General  Slocum  of  the  situation  of  affairs,  also  to  General  Sickles, 
in  the  direction  of  Emmettsburg.(19) 

At  two  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  the  Union  troops  at  Gettysburg  were 


VIEW  FROM  POSITION   HELD   BY   BAXTER'S  BRIGADE,  LOOKING  EAST. 

The  view  is  from  the  ridge  occupied  by  Baxter's  brigade,  looking  eastward  towards  Gettysburg.  The 
monument  in  the  foreground  is  that  of  the  Thirteenth  Massachusetts  regiment,  which  faced  north,  confront 
ing  the  Confederates  in  McLain's  barn  and  door-yard.  The  Eleventh  Corps  occupied  the  fields  to  the  left; 
Dilger's  battery  was  in  the  field  to  the  left  of  the  monument. 

arranged  with  the  First  Corps  west  of  the  town,  and  the  Eleventh  Corps 
north  of  it,  with  the  exception  of  Steinwehr's  division,  which  was  on  Cem 
etery  Hill.  The  nearest  troops — those  which  could  be  called  upon  by  Gen 
eral  Howard — were  the  Twelfth  Corps,  five  miles  distant,  in  position  to 
come  up  and  form  on  the  right  of  the  Eleventh  Corps. 

Beginning  south-west  of  the  seminary,  just  beyond  where  Reynolds 
fell,  at  the  left  of  the  First  Corps,  we  find  Biddle's  brigade  of  Rowley's 
division  in  the  smooth  field  south  of  the  grove. 

General  Meredith,  of  the  "  Iron  Brigade,"  has  been  wounded,  and  Colo 
nel  Morrow  commands  it.  The  troops  stand  where  they  won  their  suc 
cess  of  the  morning — in  the  woods.  From  the  woods  to  the  turnpike  the 
ground  is  occupied  by  Stone's  brigade  of  Rowley's  division.  It  has  an 
angle  to  defend,  the  line  turning  east.  Reynolds's  First  New  York  Bat 
tery  is  stationed  with  its  guns  pointing  north.  Cutler's  brigade  is  on  the 
ground  which  it  occupied  in  the  morning,  with  Stuart's  battery,  the  Fourth 
United  States. 


AN   UNEXPECTED   BATTLE. 


213 


Crossing  the  railroad,  we  come  to  the  Eleventh  Pennsylvania,  Paul's 
brigade,  the  first  north  of  the  railroad ;  then  Baxter's  brigade  of  Robin 
son's  division,  in  a  narrow  lane,  screened  by  a  low  wall  and  a  thicket  of 
small  oaks.  The  troops  face  west,  looking  over  a  wheat-field  sloping  gen 
tly  towards  the  west. 

Paul's  brigade  is  in  rear  of  Baxter's  ;  the  Ninety-fourth  New  York  regi 
ment  on  the  left,  with  the  Sixteenth  Maine  facing  west ;  the  One  Hun 
dred  and  Fourth  New  York  and  the  Thirteenth  Massachusetts  face  north, 
looking  up  a  lane  leading  to  the  house  of  Mr.  McLain  and  his  great  red 
barn.  Stevens's  Fifth  Maine  Battery  is  in  reserve  by  the  seminary.  This 
completes  the  formation  of  the  First  Corps. 

The  Eleventh  Corps  did  not  arrive  upon  the  field  till  past  noon,  and 
there  was  little  time  to  arrange  it.  It  was  at  a  right  angle  with  the  First 
Corps.  Walking  east  from  the  ridge,  descending  the  hill,  we  find  a  gap 
of  a  quarter  of  a  mile  between  the  Thirteenth  Massachusetts  and  Dilger's 
Eleventh  Ohio  Battery.  Its  intrepid  commander  wears  buckskin  breeches, 
and  the  soldiers  have  nicknamed  him  "  Leather  Breeches."  They  admire 
the  skill  with  which  he 
handles  his  guns. 

There  is  a  wide  gap 
between  the  two  corps 
at  a  point  where  the  line 
turns  the  angle.  Beyond 
Dilger  is  Wheeler's  Thir 
teenth  New  York  Bat 
tery  and  Yon  Amsberg's 
brigade,  holding  the 
ground  to  the  Carlisle 
road.  Crossing  this,  we 
come  to  Kryzanowski's 

brigade  and  Heckman's  battery.     The  two  brigades  compose  Schimmel- 
pfennig's  division. 

In  the  fields  south  of  Blocher's  house  we  find  Ames's  brigade  of  Bar 
low's  division,  with  Wilkeson's  battery  (G,  Fourth  United  States),  on  a  knoll, 
two  of  his  guns  pointing  north-west,  towards  Blocher's  house,  two  north-east, 
across  Rock  Creek,  towards  the  house  of  Mr.  Benner.  Two  cannon,  under 
Lieutenant  Merkle,  have  been  stationed  by  the  Almshouse,  nearer  the  town. 

Yon  Gilsa's  brigade  is  on  the  extreme  right,  along  Rock  Creek. 

The  sharp  action  of  the  morning  made  the  Confederates  cautious. 
Hill  knew  that  Ewell,  with  two  divisions,  was  rapidly  advancing  from 


FIRST   DAY   AT   GETTYSBURG,   AT   3   P.  M. 


214  MARCHING  TO   VICTORY. 

Carlisle,  and  waited  his  arrival  before  renewing  the  attack,  but  placed  his 
troops  in  position.  Going  over  to  Heir's  Tavern,  where  the  artillery  is 
planted,  and  walking  south  into  a  beautiful  grove,  we  find,  at  two  o'clock, 
Heth's  division — Brockenborough's  and  Pettigrew's  brigades,  with  what  is 
left  of  Archer's  and  Da  vis's. 

Along  the  turnpike  and  in  the  fields  is  Fender's  division — Thomas's 
brigade  on  the  north  side  ;  McGowan,  Lane,  and  Scales,  south.  Attached 
to  the  two  divisions  are  seventeen  batteries — sixty-eighty  guns — a  large 
portion  of  which  are  placed  along  the  ridge  on  both  sides  of  the  turnpike. 
Passing  through  the  fields  north-east,  crossing  Rock  Creek,  we  come  to 
Brander's  battery ;  beyond  it,  the  right  of  Iverson's  North  Carolina  brigade, 
then  O'Neal's  Alabama  brigade  on  the  summit  of  Oak  Hill.  Eastward, 
extending  down  into  the  fields,  is  Dole's  Georgia  brigade.  Carter's  bat 
tery  comes  down  through  the  woods  and  takes  a  commanding  position  on 
Oak  Hill,  whence  it  can  rain  its  missiles  upon  every  part  of  the  Union 
line  —  upon  the  First  Corps,  upon  Dilger's  and  Wheeler's  batteries, 
upon  Van  Amsberg,  or  even  upon  Barlow's  division.  In  reserve,  behind 
O'Neal's  and  Dole's,  are  Daniel's'  and  Ramseur's  brigades.  Going  east, 
across  Rock  Creek,  we  see  Early's  division — Gordon's  brigade — between 
the  creek  and  the  Harrisburg  road,  with  three  batteries  across  the  road; 
Hays's  and  Hoke's  brigades  deployed  in  the  second  line,  facing  south-west, 
to  envelop  Barlow.  Johnson's  division  of  Ewell's  corps  is  advancing  along 
the  Harrisburg  road,  and  will  arrive  before  the  close  of  the  battle. 

It  was  to  be  an  unequal  contest,  for  the  Confederates  greatly  out 
numbered  the  Union  troops,  and  had  the  advantage  of  position. 

General  Howard  rode  along  the  lines  at  two  o'clock.  He  did  not 
know  the  danger  that  threatened  his  right  flank,  for  Gordon's,  Hays's,  and 
Hoke's  brigades  had  not  yet  appeared.  He  hoped  to  hold  his  position 
till  the  Third  Corps  arrived,  not  knowing  that,  through  misconception  and 
misunderstanding,  it  was  at  that  moment  ten  miles  from  the  scene  of  con 
flict.  Again  he  sent  a  messenger  to  Slocum,  only  five  miles  distant,  to 
come  up  with  the  Twelfth  Corps  and  form  on  his  right  and  assume  com- 
mand,  but  Slocum  did  not  come. 

If  Slocum  had  advanced  when  Howard  sent  his  first  message,  quite 
likely  the  result  of  the  first  day's  contest  would  have  been  different  from 
what  it  was. 

The  Confederate  batteries  once  more  opened  fire,  concentrating  it  main 
ly  upon  the  First  Corps  and  Dilger's  and  Wheeler's  batteries. 

There  was  a  gap  between  Ewell  and  Hill,  and  Ewell  directed  Iver- 
son,  Rarnseur,  and  Daniel  to  march  south-west,  to  bring  the  two  corps 


AN   UNEXPECTED   BATTLE.  215 

nearer  together.  They  crossed  the  Mummasburg  road,  then  turned  south 
east. 

The  mower  had  not  yet  swept  the  green  fields,  and  the  tall  grass  was 
waving  in  its  beauty.  The  Confederate  skirmishers  crept  through  it, 
opening  a  galling  fire  upon  the  Union  troops,  who  saw  only  puffs  of  smoke 
rising  above  the  grass. 

The  movement  of  Rodes's  troops  induced  Cutler  to  change  front.  He 
was  south  of  the  railroad,  facing  west,  but  swung  his  line  to  face  the  north, 
bringing  it  into  position  to  send  an  enfilading  fire  upon  Iverson,  who  was 
sweeping  round  to  the  west,  while  O'Neal  was  advancing  directly  south. 
The  skirmishers  were  sheltered  by  the  great  red  barn  of  Mr.  McLain.  Thev 
fired  from  the  barn  windows,  from  the  fences  and  sheds,  from  beneath  the 
apple  and  peach  trees  in  the  garden.  It  was  a  threatening  cloud  of  Confed 
erates  which  pressed  down  into  the  gap  between  the  First  and  Eleventh 
corps.  Dole  intended  to  drive  in  a  wedge  which  would  break  the  Union 
line.  Dilger  and  Wheeler  had  been  sending  their  shells  to  the  summit 
of  Oak  Hill,  but  now  they  wheeled  and  poured  a  destructive  storm  upon 
Dole. 

In  front  of  the  lane,  towards  the  barn,  are  the  Thirteenth  Massachu 
setts  and  One  Hundred  and  Fourth  New  York,  of  Paul's  brigade.  They 
are  in  a  grove  of  oaks  south  of  the  Mummasburg  road,  holding  the  right 
of  the  First  Corps.  The  barn  is  riddled  by  their  firing.  Thick  and  fast 
the  bullets  fly  through  the  garden ;  equally  plenteous  are  they  raining 
upon  the  Thirteenth  Massachusetts,  which  charges  towards  the  barn.  Ser 
geant  Morris  carrying  the  colors.  Suddenly  he  leaps  into  the  air  and 
falls  dead,  with  his  hands  grasping  the  staff. 

The  concentrated  fire  upon  the  Confederates  under  Dole  compels  him 
to  fall  back. . 

Iverson's  brigade  of  North  Carolinians  have  been  creeping  through  the 
tall  grass,  firing,  dropping  upon  the  ground  to  reload,  thus  screening  them 
selves  from  the  fire  of  Baxter's  brigade,  sheltered  by  the  scrubby  oaks. 
There  comes  a  lightning-flash  from  beneath  the  green  foliage,  and  the  men  of 
North  Carolina  go  down  as  if  smitten  by  a  thunder-bolt;  not  all  by  the  fire 
of  Baxter,  but  in  part  by  a  volley  from  Cutler's  brigade  across  the  railroad. 

"  Let  us  capture  them  !"  is  the  cry  that  runs  along  the  lines.  "  For 
ward,  Twelfth !"  is  the  word  of  command  from  Adjutant  Wherum.  Over 
the  wall  leaps  the  Twelfth  Massachusetts,  through  the  shrubbery  dashes 
the  Eighty-eighth  Pennsylvania  and  the  other  regiments — each  soldier  in 
stinctively  seeing  that  it  is  the  right  thing  to  be  done — all  rushing  down 
upon  the  astonished  Confederates. 


216  MARCHING  TO   VICTORY. 

"The  enemy  charged,"  says  Iverson,  "in  overwhelming  force,  and 
captured  nearly  all  that  were  left  unhurt  of  the  three  regiments  of  my 
brigade.  When  I  saw  white  handkerchiefs  raised  and  my  line  of  battle 
still  lying  down,  in  position,  I  characterized  the  surrender  as  disgraceful ; 
but  when  afterwards  I  found  that  five  hundred  of  my  men  were  left  ly 
ing  dead  and  wounded,  and  in  a  line  as  straight  as  a  dress  parade,  I  exon 
erated  the  survivors,  and  claim  that  they  nobly  fought  and  died,  without 
a  man  running  to  the  rear.  No  greater  gallantry  or  heroism  during  the 
war. .  . .  The  fighting  ceased  on  my  part."(20) 

"  The  dead  lay  in  a  distinctly  marked  line  of  battle,"  are  the  words  of 
General  Rodes.f3) 

It  was  nearly  three  o'clock,  and  the  battle  was  becoming  more  intense. 

"  At  3.45,"  says  General  Howard,  "  Generals  Doubleday  and  Wads- 
worth  besought  me  for  reinforcements.  I  directed  General  Schurz,  if  he 
could  spare  a  regiment  or  more,  to  send  it  to  reinforce  General  Wads- 
worth,  and  several  times  sent  urgent  requests  to  General  Slocum  to  come 
to  my  assistance.  To  every  application  for  reinforcements  I  replied, 'Hold 
out  if  possible  a  while  longer,  for  I  am  expecting  General  Slocum  every  mo 
ment.'.  . .  About  4  P.M.  I  despatched  Major  Howard,  my  aide,  to  General  Slo 
cum  to  inform  him  of  the  state  of  affairs,  and  request  him  to  send  one  of 
his  divisions  to  the  left  and  the  other  to  the  right  of  Gettysburg.  He  met 
the  general  on  the  Baltimore  pike,  about  a  mile  from  Gettysburg,  who  re 
plied  that  he  had  already  ordered  a  division  to  the  right,  and  that  he  would 
send  another  to  cover  the  left,  as  requested,  but  that  he  did  not  wish  to 
come  up  to  the  front  and  take  the  responsibility  of  that  fight.  In  justice 
to  General  Slocum,  I  desire  to  say  that  he  afterwards  expressed  the  opinion 
that  it  was  against  the  wish  of  the  commanding  general  to  bring  on  a  gen 
eral  engagement  at  that  point."(") 

The  Twelfth  Corps  had  arrived  at  Two  Taverns  during  the  forenoon, 
after  a  march  from  Littlestown  in  the  early  morning.  The  cannonade 
and  musketry  could  be  distinctly  heard  by  the  troops  as  they  rested  in  the 
fields  around  Two  Taverns.  A  general  engagement  had  begun,  inaugu 
rated  by  General  Reynolds,  commanding  the  left  wing  of  the  army,  who 
had  been  killed.  General  Slocum  outranked  General  Howard,  and  did  not 
wish  to  assume  any  responsibility. 

General  Slocum's  course  has  been  open  to  much  criticism,  but  he  claimed 
that  General  Meade  did  not  desire  to  have  a  battle  at  Gettysburg. 

Let  us  look  at  affairs  as  they  were  at  three  o'clock  on  the  right  of  the 
Union  line.  A  part  of  the  Seventeenth  Connecticut  had  been  sent  across 
Rock  Creek  as  skirmishers,  but  were  being  driven  back  by  Early's  advancing 


AN   UNEXPECTED   BATTLE. 


line  of  battle.  The  only  battery  which  could  be  spared  on  the  Union  side 
for  the  right  of  the  line  was  G,  Fourth  United  States,  commanded  by  Lieu 
tenant  Wilkeson,  who  had  placed  four  of  his  light  12-pounders  on  a  knoll 
overlooking  a  wide  reach  of  fields  on  both  sides  of  Rock  Creek,  and  two 
pieces  nearer  the  town,  by  the  Almshouse,  tinder  Lieutenant  Merkle.  The 
Seventeenth  Connecticut,  and  Twenty-fifth,  Seventy-fifth,  and  One  Hun 
dred  and  Seventh  Ohio,  constituted  the  brigade  of  General  Ames,  assigned 
to  hold  this  important  position,  with  no  reserve  that  could  be  called  upon  in 
the  hour  of  need.  Yon  Gilsa,  along  Rock  Creek,  must  hold  the  flank.  The 
artillery  duel  began,  between  Wilkeson,  with  four  pieces,  and  twelve  guns 
on  the  part  of  the  Confederates. 

Wilkeson  was  supported  by  the  Seventeenth  Connecticut  regiment. 

It  was  a  trying  situation  for  the  cannoneers  of  the  Union  battery. 
Their  commander,  to  encourage  them,  to  inspire  them  with  his  own  lofty 
spirit,  sat  upon  his  horse,  a  conspicuous  figure,  calmly  directing  the  fire  of 
the  pieces.  He  rode 
from  piece  to  piece,  his 
horse  upon  the  walk. 
Shells  were  bursting 
amid  the  guns;  shot 
from  rifled  cannon  cut 
the  air  or  ploughed  the 
ground,  from  cannon 
not  half  a  mile  away, 
upon  a  hill  much  high 
er  than  that  which  he 
occupied.  This  young 
lieutenant  bore  an  hon 
ored  name  —  Bayard 
Wilkeson  —  a  family 
name,  given  him  in 
part,  also,  by  his  par 
ents  out  of  their  admiration  for  the  great  Chevalier  of  France,  the  knight 
of  other  days,  whose  character  was  without  a  stain,  whose  life  was  above 
reproach.  This  self-possessed  lieutenant  from  New  York,  animated  by 
an  unquenchable  patriotism,  became  a  soldier  at  sixteen,  received  his 
commission  when  he  was  but  seventeen,  and  was  not  then  nineteen  years 
of  age.  His  first  battle  was  Fredericksburg.  For  six  months  he  had 
been  commander — his  captain  engaged  elsewhere.  So  admirable  the  dis 
cipline  and  efficient  the  battery  under  the  instruction  of  this  boy-lieuten- 


WHERE  WILKESON'S  BATTERY  AND  THE  SEVENTEENTH 
CONNECTICUT  STOOD. 


218 


MARCHING   TO    VICTORY. 


ant  that  it  had  been  accorded  the  post  of  honor — the  right  of  the  line. 
It  is  a  brave  spirit  that  can  look  out  composedly  upon  the  scene  in  a 
contest  so  unequal,  but  his  guns  are  fired  with  precision  and  effect.  A 
rifled  cannon-shot  strikes  his  right  leg,  crushing  the  bones  and  mangling 
the  flesh.  His  soldiers  lay  him  upon  the  ground.  With  composure  he 
ties  his  handkerchief  around  it,  twists  it  into  a  tourniquet  to  stop 

the  flow  of  blood,  then  with  his  own 
hand  and  knife  severs  the  cords  and 
tendons,  and,  sitting  there,  tells  his 
cannoneers  to  go  on  with  their  fire — a 
bravery  unsurpassed  even  by  that  of 
the  Chevalier  of  France  beneath  the 
walls  of  Brescia,  in  Italy,  who  said  to 
his  soldiers,  when  wounded,  "  Let  me 
lie  with  my  face  to  the  enemy,  for  I 
never  yet  have  learned  to  turn  my 
back  upon  the  foe."  Faint  and  thirs 
ty,  he  sends  a  soldier  with  his  can 
teen  to  fill  it  at  the  Almshouse  well. 
When  the  man  returns,  a  wounded  in 
fantryman  whose  life  is  ebbing  away, 
beholding  the  canteen,  exclaims,  "  Oh 
that  I  could  have  but  a  swallow !" 
Like  Sir  Philip  Sidney,  author  of  the 
"  Arcadia,"  upon  the  field  of  Zutphen, 
who  said  to  a  wounded  soldier  by  his 
side,  "  Drink,  comrade,  your  necessities 
are  greater  than  mine,"  so  Bayard  Wil- 
\  keson,  with  like  unselfishness,  courtesy, 
and  benevolence,  replies,  "  Drink,  com 
rade  ;  I  can  wait."  In  the  consuming 
thirst  and  fever  of  approaching  death 
the  infantryman  drains  the  canteen  of  its  contents.  When  it  was  seen 
that  the  line  must  retire,  Wilkeson  allowed  himself  to  be  carried  to  the 
Almshouse  hospital,  which,  a  few  minutes  later,  was  within  the  advancing 
lines  of  the  Confederates,  and  where,  during  the  night,  for  want  of  atten 
tion,  he  died.  Dead  —  but  his  heroism,  sense  of  duty,  responsibility  to 
obligation,  devotion,  and  loyalty  remain ;  and  by  the  majesty  of  his  death 
he  shall  be  evermore  an  inspiration  to  those  who  love  the  country  which 
he  died  to  save.(") 


BAYARD  WILKESON. 


AN  UNEXPECTED  BATTLE.  219 

The  weak  point  in  the  Union  line  was  the  angle  between  the  First  and 
Eleventh  Corps  —  the  wide  gap,  with  only  Dilger's  battery  to  hold  it. 
General  Howard,  possibly  from  want  of  information  in  regard  to  Ewell's 
force  and  position,  ordered  Schimmelpfennig  to  advance.  The  movement 
enabled  Ewell's  batteries  on  Oak  Hill  to  send  down  a  destructive  enfilading 
fire,  which  compelled  the  line  to  fall  back.  It  was  rallied  in  part.  At 
this  moment  Early  advanced,  with  Gordon's  brigade  on  the  right,  Hays 
in  the  centre,  Hoke  on  the  left,  with  Smith  in  reserve  —  moving  down 
to  Rock  Creek,  the  soldiers  plashing  through  it  on  the  flank  of  Yon  Gilsa 
by  the  York  road.  It  was  like  the  drawing  of  a  seine  by  fishermen.  At 
the  same  moment  Dole  was  pushing  into  the  gap  between  the  First  and 
Eleventh  Corps.  The  Union  line  was  forced  back.  Barlow,  commanding  a 
division,  was  wounded  and  carried  from  the  field.  By  the  Almshouse  the 
battle  was  renewed,  but  the  Eleventh  Corps  was  rapidly  crumbling.  The 
falling  back  of  the  left  of  the  Eleventh  Corps  compelled  Robinson,  on  the 
right  of  the  First,  to  change  position.  Going  down  the  line  of  the  First 
Corps,  we  see  Meredith's  division  still  holding  the  ground  of  the  morning, 
reduced  by  losses  to  less  than  one  thousand.  Meredith  and  Rowley  have 
held  Heth's  division  at  bay,  but  now  they  must  meet  the  onset  of  Fender's 
fresh  brigades.  Meredith  is  in  the  woods,  where  he  has  been  through  the 
day ;  Rowley  in  the  field  by  McPherson's.  The  Confederates  advance 
boldly,  but  are  met  by  a  terrific  fire.  Fender  and  Scales,  commanding  a 
.brigade,  are  both  wounded,  and  the  Confederate  line  retreats  in  disorder. 
Perrin's  Confederate  brigade  falls  upon  Biddle's,  which  is  forced  back 
towards  the  seminary,  and  Meredith,  with  both  flanks  exposed,  is  com 
pelled  to  abandon  the  ground  which  has  been  held  since  morning. 
Meredith  is  wounded,  and  Colonel  Morrow  succeeds  to  the  command.  In 
perfect  order,  with  steady  ranks,  the  two  divisions  fall  back  to  the  semi 
nary  ridge,  where  a  breastwork  of  rails  has  been  erected,  and  where  the 
troops  face  once  more  to  the  west,  confronting  the  Confederates,  and 
deliver  a  fire,  which  holds  Daniel's  Confederates  in  check ;  while  Double- 
day's  artillery,  planted  along  the  ridge  by  the  seminary,  cuts  great  gaps 
in  Scales's  brigade  of  Fender's  division.  Scales  and  Fender  are  both 
wounded.  Scales's  men  rush  up  almost  to  the  muzzles  of  the  cannon,  but 
are  swept  back  by  the  remorseless  fire.  Every  field-officer  of  the  Con 
federate  brigade  but  one  is  wounded. 

Southward  Buford's  men, who  have  been  on  the  field  since  daylight, 
leap  from  their  saddles,  deploy  as  infantry,  and  deliver  a  fire  which  pre 
vents  the  Confederates  from  closing  upon  Doubleday's  flank. 

Cutler  halts  behind  the  railroad  embankment   in  the  field  between 


220  MARCHING  TO  VICTORY. 

Seminary  Ridge  and  the  town,  and  holds  Rodes  in  check,  enabling  the 
Union  artillery  to  get  across  the  field  south  of  the  town. 

The  One  Hundred  and  Forty-ninth  Pennsylvania  and  Baxter's  brigade 
were  still  on  the  ridge,  holding  out  so  stubbornly  that  Hill  advanced 
cautiously. 

Hall's  battery,  moving  towards  the  town,  unlimbered  and  sent  its 
shells  along  the  street  upon  the  advancing  Confederates.  But  the  con 
flict  was  over.  General  Howard  had  seen  the  crumbling  of  the  Eleventh 
Corps,  and  had  ordered  the  retreat.  Down  from  the  Almshouse,  from  the 
Carlisle  road,  from  the  York  road,  came  the  men  of  the  Eleventh  Corps, 
those  of  Barlow's  division  loading  and  firing  on  their  retreat. 

This  the  testimony  of  A.  P.  Hill :  "  A  Yankee  color-bearer  floated  his 
standard  in  the  field,  and  the  regiment  fought  around  it;  and  when  at  last 
it  was  obliged  to  retreat,  the  color-bearer,  last  of  all,  turning  round  now 
and  then  to  shake  his  fist  in  the  face  of  the  advancing  rebels,  I  was  sorry 
when  I  saw  him  meet  his  doom."(24) 

Three  color-bearers  of  the  Nineteenth  Indiana,  one  after  the  other, 
were  shot.  The  sergeant-major,  Asa  Blanchard,  ran  and  seized  the  flag 
when  the  third  man  fell,  waved  it,  and  cried,  "Rally,  boys!"  The  next 
moment  he  fell.  His  comrades  stopped  to  carry  him.  "Don't  stop  for 
me,"  he  cried ;  "  don't  let  them  have  the  flag.  Tell  mother  I  never  fal 
tered."  They  were  his  parting  words  to  his  comrades  who  saved  the  flag. 

Five  color-bearers  of  the  Twenty-fourth  Michigan  were  shot.  Colonel 
Morrow  seized  the  flag,  but  was  wounded.  A  soldier  grasped  it,  but  fell 
mortally  wounded. 

General  Paul  was  made  totally  blind  for  life  by  a  bullet  which  passed 
through  his  eyes.  General  Robinson  had  two  horses  shot  beneath  him. 

Down  the  Chambersburg,  down  the  Carlisle,  the  Murnmasburg,  and 
Harrisburg  roads  into  the  town  pressed  the  retreating  troops.  .  It  was  like 
a  spring  freshet  from  a  vast  area  of  country  pouring  through  a  narrow 
gorge — divisions,  brigades,  regiments — infantry,  artillery,  and  cavalry- 
were  in  confusion.  They  streamed  through  the  fields,  climbed  the  fences, 
the  Confederates  rushing  on  to  capture  them.  The  First  Corps  retired 
partly  across  the  meadow  south  of  the  town,  losing  but  few  prisoners ;  but 
north  of  the  town  the  Eleventh  Corps,  blocked  by  the  houses,  pressed  by 
Early 's  division,  suffered  great  loss. 

Some  of  Barlow's  men  turned  about  and  deliberately  fired  into  the 
faces  of  the  enemy,  refusing  to  surrender,  and  were  shot  down  by  men 
who  admired  their  bravery. 

"  I  never  have  seen,"  said  General  Gordon,  "  more  desperate  fighting 


AN   UNEXPECTED   BATTLE.  223 

than  around  the  Almshouse,  between  my  brigade  and  Barlow's,  of  the 
Eleventh  Corps." 

General  Barlow  fell  and  was  taken  prisoner.  Among  those  who  sought 
shelter  in  the  houses  was  Colonel  Wheelock,  of  the  Ninety-seventh  New 
York,  a  large  man,  who  could  not  make  his  way  through  the  crowd,  and 
who  would  have  disdained  to  run  had  he  been  able  to  do  so.  He  entered 
the  house  of  Mr.  Shead,  followed  by  Confederate  soldiers  and  an  officer 
who  demanded  his  sword. (25)  "I'll  not  surrender  my  sword  to  a  rebel," 
was  the  reply.  "  Surrender  your  sword,  or  I  will  shoot  you."  "  Shoot ! 
I'll  not  surrender  it,"  again  the  defiant  reply  from  Wheelock,  who  opened 
his  vest,  waiting  for  the  fatal  shot.  A  girl  sprang  between  them — Miss 
Carrie  Shead — who  seized  the  sword,  bore  it  away,  and  secreted  it.  His 
sword  safe,  Colonel  Wheelock  became  a  submissive  prisoner.  With  the 
three  thousand  other  prisoners  he  was  taken  outside  the  town,  but  during 
the  night  managed  to  escape,  returning  to  Gettysburg  upon  the  retire 
ment  of  the  Confederates,  and  regained  his  sword. 

General  Schimmelpfennig,  whom  his  soldiers  greatly  loved,  and  whom 
they  familiarly  called  Schimmel,  remained  upon  the  field  to  the  last.  His 
horse  was  shot,  and  the  Confederates  of  Dole's  division  were  close  upon 
him.  He  ran  into  the  wood-shed  of  Mr.  Garloch,  jumped  behind  some 
barrels,  and  drew  sticks  of  wood  over  him.  The  Confederates  looked  in, 
but  did  not  see  him.  Three  nights  and  two  days  he  remained.  Mrs. 
(rarloch  saw  him,  and  her  little  boy  dropped  bread  behind  the  barrels. 
The  Confederates  were  frequently  in  the  shed.  When,  at  last,  on  Satur 
day,  he  heard  the  Union  drum-beat  in  the  street,  he  emerged  from  his 
hiding-place  and  returned  to  his  brigade. 

Out  near  the  battle  line  of  the  Eleventh  Corps,  in  an  enclosed  lot  near 
Pennsylvania  College,  lay  a  Union  soldier.  No  one  was  near  him ;  he 
heard  no  footstep  coming  to  his  relief.  If  he  uttered  a  cry  of  pain,  a 
wail  of  agony,  or  call  for  help,  there  was  no  one  to  hasten  to  his  assistance. 
For  him  there  was  but  one  solace — to  gaze  once  more  upon  those  who 
were  dearest,  but  who  were  far  away.  When  the  battle  was  ended,  the 
Confederates  departed,  the  people  of  Gettysburg  discovered  the  prostrate 
form,  motionless  evermore,  the  clinched  fingers  holding  the  photograph  of 
his  wife  and  three  children.  His  last  fading  sight  of  things  earthly  was  of 
their  fair  faces ;  his  last  thoughts  were  of  them.  The  good  people  buried 
him  where  he  fell.  They  rephotographed  the  group  and  sent  the  picture 
far  and  wide  throughout  the  "North.  It  was  recognized  in  Cattaraugus 
County,  New  York,  as  the  wife  and  children  of  a  soldier  of  the  One  Hun 
dred  and  Fifty -fourth  New  York  Eegiment  of  Costar's  brigade  —  one 


224 


MARCHING   TO   VICTORY. 


MAJOR-GENERAL   W.    S.   HANCOCK. 


of  the  men  who  went  down  through  Gettysburg  upon  the  run,  and  out 
upon  the  York  road,  at  the  last  moment  of  the  struggle. 

Half-past  four  o'clock  came,  the  battle  was  decided,  and  what  was  left 
of  the  First  and  Eleventh  corps  were  gathered  on  Cemetery  Hill  —  the 
Eleventh  Corps  north  of  the  turnpike,  the  First  Corps  south  of  it. 

General  Hancock,  commander  of  the  Second  Corps,  was  riding  up  the 
Baltimore  pike,  with  instructions  from  General  Meade  to  take  command 
of  the  troops  at  Gettysburg.  He  was  the  junior  of  Howard  in  rank. 


AN  UNEXPECTED  BATTLE.  225 

"  General  Meade  undoubtedly  supposed  that  I  was  your  senior,  but  you 
outrank  me,"  said  Hancock.(28) 

"  It  is  no  time  to  talk  about  rank.  I  shall  most  cheerfully  obey  your 
instructions,  and  do  all  in  my  power  to  co-operate  with  you,"  Howard 
replied,  taking  charge  of  the  troops  north  of  the  turnpike,  Hancock  south 
of  it,  and  in  a  few  moments  they  had  a  gleaming  line  of  bayonets  in 
position. 

It  was  five  o'clock — the  sun  yet  two  hours  in  the  heavens.  General 
Lee  and  General  Longstreet  were  by  the  Theological  Seminary,  gazing 
upon  the  scene,  having  just  arrived  upon  the  field. 

"I  think  that  we  will  attack  them  upon  the  heights  to-morrow  morn 
ing,"  said  General  Lee.(37) 

"Will  not  that  be  a  departure  from  the  plan  as  proposed  before  we 
left  Fredericksburg  f '  suggested  Longstreet. 

u  If  the  enemy  is  there  to-morrow  we  must  attack  him." 

"  But  if  he  is  there  it  will  be  because  he  is  anxious  that  we  should  at 
tack  him — a  good  reason,  in  my  judgment,  for  not  doing  so.  Let  us  move 
by  our  right  to  Meade's  left,  and  put  our  army  between  him  and  Washing 
ton,  threatening  his  left  and  rear,  and  thus  force  him  to  attack  us  in  such 
position  as  we  may  select.  His  weak  point  is  his  left.  I  think  we  should 
move  around  it,  threaten  by  the  manoeuvre,  and  attack  if  we  determine 
upon  a  battle.  The  country  is  admirably  adapted  for  a  defensive  battle, 
and  we  shall  surely  repulse  Meade  by  a  crushing  loss  if  we  take  the  posi 
tion  and  force  him  to  attack  us.  Even  if  we  attack  the  heights  before  us 
and  drive  him  out,  we  shall  be  so  badly  crippled  that  we  shall  not  be  able 
to  reap  the  fruits  of  victory.  The  heights  of  Gettysburg  are  in  themselves 
of  no  more  importance  than  the  ground  upon  which  we  stand.  Meade's 
army,  and  not  its  position,  is  our  objective." 

General  Lee,  before  starting  upon  the  campaign,  had  a  fixed  determina 
tion  to  reach  a  position  of  his  own  choosing,  and  await  an  attack ;  but  the 
two  armies  had  come  in  collision,  and  the  Confederates  had  already  won  u 
victory — another  in  the  long  list  that  had  crowned  the  arms  of  his  troops, 
who  regarded  themselves  as  invincible,  and  who  were  eager  to  attack  in 
the  morning.  Their  blood  was  up,  and  so  was  that  of  General  Lee. 

"He  seemed  under  a  subdued  excitement,  which  occasionally  took 
possession  of  him  when  the  hunt  was  up  and  threatened  his  superb  equi 
poise,"  are  the  words  of  Longstreet. (28) 

"  The  enemy  is  in  position,  and  I  am  going  to  whip  them  or  they  are 
going  to  whip  me."(29) 

At  the  hour  of  five  in  the  afternoon  I  was  twenty  miles  away.  Through 
15 


226  MARCHING   TO    VICTORY. 

the  day  I  had  been  riding  with  General  Gregg's  division  of  cavalry.  At  three 
o'clock  we  were  at  Hanover  Junction,  twenty-five  miles  from  the  battle 
field,  upon  the  extreme  right  of  the  Union  army.  We  had  removed  the  sad 
dles  from  our  horses  for  a  brief  halt,  when  the  booming  of  cannon  came 
upon  us  from  the  west.  Leaving  the  cavalry,  I  rode  towards  it,  but  soon 
found  that  it  was  not  the  cannonade  of  the  conflict  at  Gettysburg,  but  at 
Hanover,  between  Kilpatrick's  cavalry  and  the  Confederate  cavalry  under 
Stuart.  I  arrived  in  season  to  see  its  close. 

General  Stuart  had  captured  four  hundred  prisoners  and  gathered  two 
hundred  wagons,  which  hindered  him  ;  but  he  would  not  abandon  the  wag 
ons.  He  bivouacked  half-way  between  Westminster  and  Littlestown.  His 
scouts  came  in  during  the  evening  of  the  30th  of  June  with  the  informa 
tion  that  the  Union  cavalry  was  at  Littlestown — Kilpatrick's  two  brigades. 

General  Stuart,  instead  of  inarching  to  Littlestown,  as  he  had  intended, 
decided  to  get  away  from  the  Union  cavalry  by  going  north-east.  Cham- 
bliss's  brigade  was  in  advance.  Fitz-Hugh  Lee  moved  along  the  left  flank 
to  guard  the  train,  while  Hampton  covered  the  rear.  Chambliss  approach 
ed  Hanover,  but  discovered  a  column  of  Union  troops  entering  the  town 
— Kilpatrick's  division.  At  Aldie  that  officer  commanded  a  brigade,  but 
now  he  was  in  command  of  a  division — Farnsworth's  and  Custer's  brigades. 
Farnsworth  was  moving  quietly  into  Hanover,  with  Custer  west  of  him. 

Stuart  ordered  Chambliss  to  charge  upon  the  Union  troops,  and  almost 
the  first  intimation  Farnsworth  had  of  the  presence  of  the  Confederates 
was  the  yelling  of  Chambliss's  men  as  they  thundered  along  the  turnpike, 
charging  upon  the  rear-guard,  scattering  it,  and  capturing  several  soldiers 
and  ambulances.  The  Fifth  New  York,  under  Major  Hammond,  turned 
upon  the  Confederates  and  put  them  to  flight.  Kilpatrick  hastened  up, 
formed  his  line,  and  sent  word  to  Custer. 

Stuart  planted  his  artillery  and  opened  fire.  The  Second  North  Caro 
lina  advanced,  but  was  repulsed,  and  its  commander,  Colonel  Payn,  taken 
prisoner.  Stuart  had  .no  desire  to  fight  a  battle.  He  was  anxious  rather 
to  avoid  one.  He  must  join  Lee,  and  his  only  aim  was  to  hold  Kilpatrick 
in  check  till  the  long  train  of  wagons  could  glide  by.  Fitz-Hugh  Lee 
joined  him,  and  the  artillery  duel  went  on.  Hampton  arrived.  Stuart  was 
stronger  than  Kilpatrick,  but  the  skirmishing  went  on  till  sunset — charges 
and  countercharges  around  and  through  the  town.  Stuart,  having  secured 
the  passage  of  his  train,  moved  towards  York,  in  search  of  General  Early. 

The  Union  cavalry  bivouacked  near  the  town.  Stuart  made  an  all- 
night  march  to  get  beyond  the  reach  of  Kilpatrick.  Horses  and  men  were 
worn  down.  Whole  regiments  fell  asleep,  the  horses  stumbled,  bringing 


AN    UNEXPECTED   BATTLE.  227 

the  riders  to  the  ground.  No  rest  for  the  horses  or  men  was  allowed  till 
they  reached  Carlisle  in  the  afternoon  of  July  2,  having  ridden  one  hun 
dred  and  twenty-five  miles  without  rest.  He  was  then  thirty  miles  north 
of  Gettysburg. 

Thus  the  first  day  of  July  closed  upon  one  of  the  hardest  fought  en 
gagements  of  the  war,  with  the  Confederate  army  well  concentrated  and 
elated  with  victory,  the  Union  army  yet  widely  scattered,  and  dispirited  by 
the  defeat  of  two  corps  with  heavy  loss. 


NOTES  TO  CHAPTER  XI. 

(  ])  General  Buford's  Report. 

( 2)  General  Heth's  Report. 

( 3)  General  Gamble's  Report. 

( 4)  Lieutenant  Calef  s  Report. 

( 5)  Captain  Bronson's  Statement,  unpublished  papers  (War  Department). 

( 6)  J.  V.  Pierce,  One  Hundred  and  Forty-seventh  N.  Y.  Regiment,  National  Tribune. 

( 7)  Captain  Hall's  Report. 

( 8)  G.  C.  Eimball's  Memorial  Address,  Thirteenth  Massachusetts  Regiment. 

( 9)  Colonel  Hoffman  to  Governor  Curtin. 

(10)  General  Wadsworth's  Report. 
(n)  General  Fairchild's  Report. 

(12)  General  Doubleday,  "  Chancellorsville  and  Gettysburg,"  p.  130. 

(13)  Century  Magazine,  November,  1886,  p.  106. 

(14j  Lieutenant-colonel  Dudley,  unpublished  papers  (War  Department). 

(15)  Captain  Hall's  Statement,  unpublished  papers  (War  Department). 

(16)  Lieutenant-colonel  Dawes's  Statement,  unpublished  papers  (War  Department). 
(n)  General  Howard  to  author. 

(18)  General  Longstreet,"  Annals  of  the  War,"  p.  420. 

(19)  General  Howard's  Report. 

(20)  General  Iverson's  Report. 

(21)  General  Rodes's  Report. 
(2'2)  General  Howard's  Report. 

(23)  Samuel  Wilkeson  to  author. 

(24)  Gen.  A.  P.  Hill's  Report. 

(25)  Mr.  Shead  to  author. 

(-6)  General  Howard  to  author,  July  2, 1863. 

(27)  General  Longstreet, "  Annals  of  the  War,"  p.  421. 

(28)  Idem. 

(28)  General  Longstreet,  Century  Magazine,  February,  1887. 


228  MAKCHING   TO   VICTORY. 


CHAPTER   XII. 

LITTLE    ROUXD    TOP. 

WHEN  night  closed  over  the  scene  of  the  first  day's  engagement  at 
Gettysburg  the  various  corps  of  the  Union  army  were  widely  sepa 
rated.  The  rallied  brigades  of  the  First  Corps  were  in  the  cemetery  and 
the  field  immediately  before  it  towards  the  town — ground  now  included  in 
the  National  Cemetery.  What  was  left  of  the  Eleventh  Corps  was  on  the 
north  side  of  the  turnpike.  The  Twelfth  Corps,  under  Slocum,  had  crossed 
Rock  Creek,  turned  to  the  right  through  the  pastures,  and  taken  position  in 
the  woods  on  Gulp's  Hill.  The  Second  Corps  was  on  the  march  from  Union- 
town,  and  arrived  during  the  evening.  The  Third  Corps  was  on  its  way 
from  Emmettsburg,  but  did  not  all  arrive  till  eight  o'clock  the  next  morn 
ing.  The  Fifth  Corps  was  at  Bonnaughtown,  five  miles  away  in  the  direc 
tion  of  Hanover,  while  the  Sixth  Corps  was  twenty-eight  miles  distant. 

it  was  one  o'clock  in  the  morning  of  July  2d  when  General  Meade, 
who  on  Sunday  had  accepted  the  great  trust  laid  upon  him  by  President 
Lincoln,  came  up  the  Taneytown  road,  and  dismounted  from  his  horse  by 
the  home  of  Mrs.  Leister.  He  was  worn  down  with  want  of  sleep,  with 
constant  thinking  as  to  what  ought  to  be  done.  He  had  thought  of  select 
ing  Pipe  Creek,  near  Taneytown,  as  a  line  of  defence,  and  General  Warren, 
of  the  Engineer  Corps,  had  been  examining  the  ground,  while  General 
Humphreys  had  been  surveying  the  country  in  the  direction  of  Emmetts 
burg.  The  battle  already  fought  had  not  been  anticipated.  The  army 
had  already  met  with  a  defeat.  What  should  he  do?  Should  he  make 
a  stand  at  Gettysburg,  or  fall  back  to  Pipe  Creek?  General  Hancock 
had  informed  him  that  the  position  to  which  the  First  and  Eleventh 
corps  had  retreated  was  a  strong  one.  He  had  come  to  see.  With 
General  Howard  he  rode  along  the  lines.  The  moon  was  shining,  and  he 
could  dimly  see  the  general  features  of  the  country  —  that  Gulp's  Hill 
was  covered  with  trees,  that  its  northern  side  was  sharp  and  steep,  that 
Cemetery  Hill  commanded  a  wide  sweep  of  country,  that  there  was  a  low 
ridge  running  south-east  towards  Little  Round  Top,  two  miles  from  the 


LITTLE   ROUND  TOP. 


229 


cemetery.  Sitting  upon  his  horse  amid  the  white  head -stones,  he  could 
look  over  the  houses  in  the  town  and  see  the  seminary  ridge,  where  the 
First  Corps  had  fought  so  stubbornly,  and  the  level  fields  northward, 
where  the  Eleventh  Corps  had  stood.  He  could  trace  the  dark  line  of 
forest  extending  southward  from  the  seminary,  and  see  that  the  entire 
region  would  be  under  the  sweep  of  artillery  placed  in  the  cemetery  and 
north  of  it,  or  along  the  ridge.  It  was  a  place  where  possibly  a  battle 
might  be  successfully  fought.  He  directed  General  Warren  and  General 


GENERAL  MEADE  S  HEADQUARTERS. 

From  a  sketch  made  at  the  time. 


Slocum  to  examine  the  ground  in  front  of  Gulp's  Hill  with  a  view  of 
attacking  Lee  in  that  direction,  and  that  breastworks  should  be  constructed. 
From  two  o'clock  till  morning  the  soldiers  on  Gulp's  Hill,  on  Cemetery 
Hill,  and  in  the  grove  of  oaks  on  the  farm  of  Mr.  Zeigler,  south  of  the 
cemetery,  were  at  work  with  axes  and  shovels.  General  Slocum  informed 
General  Meade  that  the  ground  in  front  of  Gulp's  Hill  was  not  favorable 
for  an  attack  upon  the  Confederates,  and  that  it  would  be  far  better  to 
fight  a  defensive  battle. 

General  Lee  was  up  very  early  in  the  morning,  and  was  eating  his 


230 


MARCHING  TO   VICTORY. 


breakfast  in  his  tent  north  of  the  seminary,  near  a  small  stone  house,  be 
fore  the  sun  appeared.  General  Longstreet  came  to  see  him,  riding  in  from 
Cashtown,  and  tried  to  dissuade  him  from  making  an  attack  upon  the  Union 
army ;  but  General  Lee  had  made  up  his  mind  to  do  so,  and  they  talked 
of  what  would  be  the  probable  result.  General  Hill  came,  and  also  Gen 
eral  Heth,  who  was  wounded  in  the  head  the  day  before,  and  who  had  a 
handkerchief  bandaged  around  it.  Up  in  a  tree  near  by  was  Lieutenant- 
colonel  Freemantle,  of  the  British  Army,  looking  across  the  fields  with  his 


GENERAL   LEE  8   HEADQUARTERS. 
From  a  photograph  taken  immediately  after  the  battle. 

glass  at  the  Union  position.  With  him  were  a  Prussian  and  an  Austrian 
officer.  General  Lee  thought  of  having  General  Ewell  begin  the  battle  by 
attacking  the  Union  troops  at  Gulp's  Hill.  He  sent  Colonel  Yenable  to 
reconnoitre  the  ground,  and  then  himself  rode  across  the  fields  where  the 
Eleventh  Corps  had  fought,  to  take  a  look  at  the  position.  It  was  nine 
o'clock  when  he  got  back  to  his  headquarters,  and  it  was  eleven  before  he 
had  made  up  his  mind  just  what  to  do. 

"  It  will  not  do  to  have  Ewell  open  the  attack.     I  have  decided  that 
you  must  make  it  on  the  extreme  right,"  he  said  to  Longstreet. (') 


LITTLE   ROUND   TOP.  231 

General  Pickett's  division  of  Longstreet's  corps  was  still  near  Charn- 
bersburg,  guarding  the  great  train  of  wagons,  and  General  Law's  brigade 
was  out  on  picket  duty.  Law  was  sent  for,  but  the  village  clocks  were 
striking  twelve  before  he  was  in  from  the  picket  line. 

"  The  troops  must  make  the  movement  cautiously,  under  cover  of  the 
woods,  so  as  not  to  be  seen  by  the  enemy,"  were*  the  instructions  of  Lee.(2) 
He  could  see  from  his  headquarters  that  a  Union  signal-officer  was  on  Lit 
tle  Round  Top  waving  his  flags  to  another  by  Meade's  headquarters.  So, 
on  the  Confederate  side,  the  forenoon  passed,  only  that  the  picket  lines  of 
the  two  armies  in  the  wheat-fields  and  along  the  fences,  from  orchard  and 
meadow,  were  exchanging  shots,  and  now  and  then  a  Confederate  cannon 
sent  a  shot  whirring  over  the  town,  followed  by  answering  shots  from  the 
Union  cannon  among  the  white  head-stones  in  the  cemetery. 

The  sun  was  just  rising  when  I  mounted  my  horse  at  Hanover,  twelve 
miles  away.  I  rode  towards  Gettysburg,  passing  a  long  train  of  wagons 
and  many  soldiers  of  the  Fifth  Corps,  who  had  dropped,  weary  and  ex 
hausted,  by  the  road-side.  The  troops  of  the  corps  were  east  of  Rock  Creek, 
wrhere  they  had  been  halted  by  General  Meade,  in  anticipation  of  his  attack 
ing  Lee ;  but  he  having  determined  to  fight  a  defensive  battle,  they  filed 
southward  through  the  fields,  crossed  the  creek,  turned  into  a  pasture, 
and  threw  themselves  wearily  upon  the  ground.  I  rode  up  the  Baltimore 
turnpike,  with  the  Twelfth  Corps  on  my  right  hand,  partly  hidden  from 
view  by  the  woods,  passed  the  toll-gate,  from  which  the  tollman  had  fled, 
reached  the  summit  of  the  hill  where  the  soldiers  of  the  Eleventh  Corps,  on 
my  right,  were  lying  down,  and  those  of  the  First  Corps,  on  my  left,  were 
crouching  behind  a  stone-wall.  On  both  sides  the  artillerymen  had  thrown 
up  breastworks  to  shield  themselves  in  part.  Dismounting  from  my  horse, 
I  climbed  the  stairs  of  the  arched  gate-way  of  the  cemetery  and  beheld  the 
grand  panorama  of  the  field  where  yesterday's  battle  had  been  fought,  the 
town,  with  its  houses  of  red  brick,  its  spires  and  steeples,  the  white  walls  of 
Pennsylvania  College  north  of  the  town — the  Almshouse  beyond,  where 
Barlow's  division  had  fought  and  left  its  line  of  dead.  With  my  glass  I 
could  see  the  prostrate  forms  lying  where  they  fell.  A  yellow  flag  was  fly 
ing  above  the  cupola  of  the  Theological  Seminary,  which  had  been  taken 
for  a  hospital.  The  fields  in  the  distance  by  Herr's  Tavern,  where  the  Con 
federate  cannon  had  been  planted,  were  dotted  with  white  tents,  trains  of 
wagons  were  winding  here  and  there,  and  horsemen  were  riding  rapidly. 
Southward  were  fields  and  woodlands  and  farm-houses — the  ground  where 
the  great  battle  was  to  be  fought.  Eastward  was  Gulp's  Hill ;  upon  its 
western  face  the  soldiers  were  at  work  with  picks  and  shovels  throwing  up 


232 


MARCHING   TO   VICTORY. 


a  breastwork,  behind  which  stood  a  Union  battery — the  Fifth  Maine.  We 
shall  see  it  again  by-and-by.  Immediately  around,  upon  Cemetery  Hill, 
cannon  were  thickly  planted,  some  of  them  pointing  north,  others  west, 
and  others  south-west.  A  short  distance  southward,  across  the  Taney- 
town  road,  was  the  grove  on  the  farm  of  Mr.  Zeigler.  On  the  Emmetts- 
burg  road  was  the  brick  fcouse  of  Mr.  Codori,  with  a  large  barn.  Beyond, 
upon  the  west  side  of  the  road,  was  the  house  of  Peter  Rogers,  and  still 
farther  away  the  farm-house  of  Mr.  Sherfy,  and  an  orchard  of  peach-trees, 
whence  a  cross-road  ran  eastward  towards  Little  Round  Top.  Eastward 
of  the  peach-trees,  across  the  green  fields,  a  quarter  of  a  mile,  was  the  house 
and  barn  of  Mr.  Trostle.  I  could  see  cannon  along  the  Emmettsburg  road 
pointing  westward,  and  regiments  were  lying  down  by  the  house  of  Mr. 


ENTRANCE  TO  THE  CEMETERY. 


Codori  and  beyond  it — the  troops  of  the  Third  Corps,  resting  themselves 
after  their  hard  march  from  Emmettsburg,  kindling  fires  and  cooking  coffee. 
By  the  house  of  Mr.  Leister,  on  the  Taneytown  road,  the  headquarters  flag 
of  General  Meade  was  waving.  The  Second  Corps  was  on  the  ridge  west 
of  it.  Long  lines  of  white-topped  wagons  dotted  the  landscape  eastward. 

Descending  from  the  gate- way,  I  mounted  my  horse  to  ride  into  Gettys 
burg,  and  came  to  a  soldier  crouching  behind  a  picket-fence. 

"  Halt !     Where  are  you  going  ?"  he  said. 

"  Into  Gettysburg." 

u  Into  Gettysburg !  Do  you  know  where  you  are  ?  I  am  on  the  picket 
line.  '  Do  you  see  that  brick  house  with  the  window  open  ?  That  is  full 
of  Confederates,  and  they  have  been  picking  us  off  all  the  morning,  and  the 
quicker  you  get  out  of  here  the  better  it  will  be  for  you." 


LITTLE   ROUND   TOP.  233 

The  house  was  within  pistol-shot,  and  I  rode  back  to  the  cemetery. 
General  Howard  was  there ;  his  servant  came  with  his  breakfast  of  cold 
ham,  hard  biscuit,  and  coffee. 

"  You  are  just  in  season,"  he  said. 

He  had  deep  religious  convictions,  and  reverently  asked  God's  blessing 
before  eating. 

"  Lieutenant,"  he  said  to  an  officer,  "  have  a  detail  of  men  to  take  up 
these  gravestones  and  lay  them  carefully  upon  the  ground.  If  they  are 
left  standing  the  cannon-balls  will  knock  them  to  pieces,  and  send  the  frag 
ments  about  our  ears.  The  people  of  the  town  can  reset  them." 

He  told  the  story  of  the  first  day's  engagement,  and  pointed  out  the 
positions  of  the  troops.  Looking  across  the  houses,  we  could  see  at  that 
moment  a  column  of  Confederates  on  the  Chambersburg  road. 

"  See  there !  see  there,  general !  Let  Osborne  open  on  them  with  his 
artillery,"  shouted  Major  Charles  Howard,  of  his  staff. 

"  No,  the  time  hasn't  come.  Don't  be  in  a  hurry  about  it ;  you  will 
have  enough  fighting  before  sunset." 

The  Confederates  were  a  part  of  Doles's  division  changing  position. 
I  rode  with  General  Howard  along  the  lines  and  to  the  headquarters  of 
General  Meade,  where  a  group  of  officers  were  consulting  the  maps  which 
the  engineers  had  hastily  sketched. 

In  the  door-yard  of  Meade's  headquarters  a  signal-officer  was  waving 
his  flag  in  response  to  another  on  Little  Round  Top. 

"  Large  bodies  of  Confederate  troops  moving  south,"  was  the  message 
received. 

I  rode  along  the  line  south  from  Zeigler's  Grove  towards  Mr.  Codori's 
house,  on  the  Emmettsburg  road,  near  which  was  Hall's  brigade  of  Gib 
bon's  division  of  the  Second  Corps,  thrown  out  in  advance  of  the  ceme 
tery  ridge.  A  few  steps  farther  brought  me  to  Carrs  brigade  of  Hum- 
phreys's  division  of  the  Third  Corps. 

Some  of  the  soldiers — First  Massachusetts — were  clustered  round  the 
door  of  a  small  house  on  the  west  side  of  the  road  eating  delicious  bread, 
piping  hot,  just  baked.  When  Carr's  brigade  arrived,  just  before  daylight, 
they  saw  a  light  in  the  house  of  Peter  Rogers.  Going  to  the  door  and 
looking  in,  they  saw  two  tallow-candles  on  the  mantle,  and  a  young  girl,  in 
her  fourteenth  year,  kneading  dough  in  a  tin  pan,  with  several  other  pans 
on  the  floor  with  dough  in  them. 

"  Could  you  let  us  have  some  bread  ?"  asked  a  soldier. 

"  Oh  yes,  if  you  can  wait  for  it  a  little.  My  stove  is  small,  and  you 
know  when  one  is  in  a  hurry  bread  don't  bake  fast,"  said  Josephine  Miller, 


234 


MARCHING  TO  VICTORY. 


who  invited  them  in  to  wait  till  the  bread  was  ready.  It  was  an  old-fash 
ioned  stove,  with  an  oven,  but  not  designed  for  general  cooking.Q  „ 

"  I  think  it  must  be  done  now,"  she  said,  after  a  little  while,  and  took 
out  two  pans  of  most  palatable  bread,  and  put  in  two  more,  breaking  the 
loaves  for  the  soldiers. 

"  What  will  you  do  when  the  battle  begins  ?"  asked  Colonel  Baldwin, 
commanding  the  First  Massachusetts. 


JOSEPHINE   MILLER   AND   HER   STOVE. 

In  1886  the  First  Massachusetts  Regiment  erected  this  monument  upon  the  spot  where  they  stood  during 
the  battle.  Josephine  Miller  (Mrs.  Slyder,  of  Troy,  O.)  was  present.  Her  stove  was  still  in  the  house  where 
she  had  baked  the  bread.  It  was  placed  beside  the  monument,  and  was  photographed  with  Mrs.  Slyder. 


"  Is  there  really  going  to  be  a  battle  ?     Where  shall  we  go  ?" 

"  Yes,  we  shall  have  a  battle  right- here,  and  you  will  either  have  to  go 
to  the  rear  or  down  cellar,  if  you  have  one." 

"  Yes,  we  have  a  small  cellar.  I  think  we  will  stay ;"  and  Josephine 
Miller  went  on  with  her  baking. 

The  line  which  General  Sickles  had  selected  was  along  the  Emmetts- 
burg  road,  southward  to  the  peach  orchard  of  Mr.  Sherfy,  thence  east 
ward  towards  Little  Round  Top.  There  has  been  much  controversy  as  to 
whether  or  not  General  Sickles  carried  out  General  Meade's  instructions 


LITTLE   ROUND   TOP.  235 

in  the  selection  of  the  line,  and  also  much  discussion  whether  or  not  it 
was  the  best  position.  Upon  both  questions  military  men  have  been 
divided  in  opinion. 

It  was  past  noon,  and  the  Confederates,  instead  of  attacking  in  the 
morning,  as  General  Lee  had  intended  the  night  before,  were  not  yet  in 
position.  Had  General  Lee  known  the  position  of  the  Union  army  at 
eight  o'clock  in  the  morning,  he  doubtless  would  have  attacked  with  great 
vigor ;  but,  for  various  reasons,  the  Confederate  generals  were  slow  in  get 
ting  ready.  Under  the  orders  of  General  Lee,  the  troops  of  Longstreet 
were  trying  to  get  down  through  the  woods  by  Mr.  Warfield's,  without  being 
seen  by  the  Union  signal-officer  on  Little  Round  Top.  Colonel  Johnson,  of 
the  Engineers,  was  leading  them.(4)  The  column  came  to  a  halt,  for  he  had 
reached  an  opening  where  the  troops  would  be  seen  ;  Longstreet  became  im 
patient.  Johnson  was  carrying  out  General  Lee's  orders,  which  had  been 
issued  directly  to  him  by  the  Confederate  commander,  and  it  would  be  a 
breach  of  military  etiquette  were  Longstreet  to  order  him  to  move  on  re 
gardless  of  the  Union  signal  -  officer ;  but  General  Hood  had  received  no 
orders  from  General  Lee,  and  Longstreet,  therefore,  directed  him  to  move 
into  position  by  the  best  route,  and  the  column  took  up  its  line  of  march. 

"  Do  you  not  think  it  would  be  well  to  send  a  party  down  into  those 
woods  to  see  what  is  going  on  ?"  was  the  suggestion  of  Colonel  Berdan, 
commanding  the  First  Regiment  of  Union  sharp-shooters  west  of  the 
Emmettsburg  road,  holding  the  picket  line.(5) 

"  Yes,  and  I  will  send  you  supports,"  General  Sickles  replied. 

Colonel  Berdan  advanced  with  his  men,  deployed,  and  came  upon 
Hood.  Instantly  there  was  a  sharp  rattle  of  musketry,  lasting  fifteen  min 
utes,  during  which  time  half  of  the  men  in  the  detachment  of  sharp-shooters 
were  killed  or  wounded.  The  encounter  was  so  hotly  waged  by  them  that 
it  brought  Hood  to  a  halt.  He  did  not  know  just  what  was  before  him, 
and  waited  to  find  out,  thus  delaying  the  opening  of  the  battle. 

It  was  three  o'clock  before  Hood  and  McLaws  were  in  position,  and 
before  Colonel  Alexander,  of  Longstreet's  corps,  had  his  batteries  unlim- 
bered  in  the  edge  of  the  woods  west  and  south  of  the  peach  orchard. 
The  general  plan  on  the  part  of  Lee  was  to  swing  Longstreet,  together 
with  R.  H.  Anderson's  division  of  Hill's  corps,  against  Meade's  left  flank, 
and  that  Ewell  at  the  same  time  should  strike  the  Twelfth  Corps  on  Gulp's 
Hill.  Longstreet  frequently  dismounted  from  his  horse  and  walked  to 
positions  where  he  could  see  the  Union  line.  General  Barksdale,  com 
manding  the  Mississippi  brigade,  was  eager  for  the  battle  to  begin.  He 
could  see  a  Union  battery  in  the  peach  orchard,  and  wanted  to  capture  it. 


236 


MARCHING  TO   VICTOKY. 


"I  wish  you  would  let  me  go  in,  general.  I  would  take  it  in  five 
minutes,"  said  Barksdale. 

"  Wait  a  little ;  we  are  all  going  in  presently,"  said  Longstreet.(8) 

The  men  were  impatient,  and  began  to  pull  down  a  fence  in  front  of 
them. 

"  Don't  do  that ;  you  will  draw  the  enemy's  fire,"  said  Longstreet. 
He  was  not  quite  ready.  But  soon  came  the  word  from  his  lips,  "  For 
ward  !"  and  the  lines  moved  on. 


«*** 


--»•-;  i^srr    *&*»&'£,'  \.  •<&^*^-frj^- 

^5&&*&*t*F  •  -^^^^ 


PEACH   ORCHARD. 

The  view  looks  west.  The  position  is  that  of  Clark's,  Phillips's,  and  Bigelow's  batteries.  The  figure  is 
pointing  to  the  orchard,  occupied  by  the  Third  Maine,  Second  New  Hampshire,  Third  Michigan,  and  Ames's 
and  Hart's  batteries. 

The  Confederate  army  was  never  in  better  spirits  than  at  that  mo 
ment,  never  more  confident  of  success. 

General  Longstreet  saw  that  Sickles  occupied  a  position  easy  to  be 
assailed,  and  placed  his  batteries  in  the  edge  of  the  woods  south- west  of 
the  peach  orchard  on  the  farm  of  Mr.  Warfield.  McLaws's  division  was 
to  advance  directly  upon  the  orchard,  while  Hood  was  to  move  towards 
Little  Round  Top.  Anderson's  division  of  Hill's  corps  was  to  strike  the 


LITTLE   ROUND   TOP. 


237 


GEN.  DANIEL  E.   SICKLES. 

right  of  Sickles's  line  by  the  house  where  Josephine  Miller  was  baking 
bread. 

General  Law's  brigade  was  on  the  extreme  right  of  Hood's  line  of 
battle.  Six  scouts  were  sent  out  to  move  as  rapidly  as  possible  towards 
Great  Round  Top  and  find  out  the  position  of  the  Union  army  in  that 
direction. (7)  They  soon  brought  in  a  Union  prisoner  who  had  a  surgeon's 
certificate,  and  who  said  that  he  belonged  to  the  medical  department,  that 
the  trains  were  east  of  Round  Top,  and  not  guarded.  One  of  the  scouts 
came  in  and  reported  that  there  were  no  Union  troops  on  Round  Top. 
Law  hastened  to  Hood  with  the  information,  and  protested  against  attack 
ing  in  front.  This  his  reason  : 

"  The  great  natural  strength  of  the  enemy's  position  in  our  front 
rendered  the  result  of  a  direct  attack  extremely  uncertain ;  that,  if  suc 
cessful,  the  victory  would  be  purchased  at  too  great  a  sacrifice  of  life, 


238 


MARCHING  TO   VICTORY. 


and  our  troops  would  be  in  no  condition  to  improve  it ;  that  the  attack 
was  unnecessary,  because  they  could  easily  gain  the  left  and  rear  of  the 
enemy ;  that  it  would  compel  the  enemy  to  change  front  and  abandon 
his  position. 

"  General  Hood  called  up  Captain  Hamilton  of  his  staff,  arid  requested 
me  to  repeat  the  protest  to  him.  He  directed  Hamilton  to  find  Long- 
street  as  soon  as  possible,  to  deliver  the  protest,  and  say  to  him  that  he 


POSITION   OF   UNION   AND   CONFEDERATE   TROOPS,   3.30   P.M.,  JULY  2. 

* 

[Hood]  indorsed  it  fully.  Hamilton  rode  off  at  once,  but  in  about  ten 
minutes  returned,  accompanied  by  one  of  General  Longstreet's  staff-offi 
cers,  who  said  to  General  Hood  in  my  hearing, '  General  Longstreet  orders 
that  you  begin  the  attack  at  once.'  Hood  turned  to  me  and  merely  said, 
*  You  hear  the  order.'  I  at  once  moved  my  brigade  to  the  assault.  .  .  . 
General  Longstreet  has  since  said  that  he  repeatedly  advised  against  a 
front  attack,  and  suggested  a  movement  by  our  right  flank.  He  may 


LITTLE   ROUND   TOP.  239 

have  thought,  after  the  rejection  of  this  advice  by  General  Lee,  that  it 
was  useless  to  press  the  matter  further." 

Longstreet  had  eight  brigades,  and  Anderson  five  —  thirteen  in  all— 
with  the  brigades  of  Hill's  Corps  in  reserve,  which  were  moving  to  attack 
the  six  brigades  of  the  Third  Corps.  To  understand  the  battle,  we  are  to 
keep  in  mind  the  uncertainty  of  General  Meade  as  to  the  intentions  of 
Lee.  From  Little  Round  Top  Confederate  troops  could  be  seen  moving 
south,  while  from  Cemetery  Hill  I  could  see  those  north  of  the  town  mov 
ing  east.  With  this  uncertainty  before  him,  General  Meade  was  holding 
the  Fifth  Corps  in  reserve  not  far  from  his  headquarters,  that  lie  might 
use  it  in  any  direction.  The  line  of  defence  which  General  Meade  had 
selected  was  along  the  ridge  from  the  cemetery  to  Little  Round  Top,  but 
the  Third  Corps  was  not  on  the  ridge ;  it  was  in  front  of  it,  and  made 
a  sharp  angle  at  the  peach  orchard.  General  Hunt,  commanding  the  artil 
lery,  rode  along  the  line  with  General  Sickles  to  the  peach  orchard,  and 
down  to  Little  Round  Top.  With  his  quick  eye  he  saw  that  the  peach 
orchard  was  quite  as  high  as  the  ground  along  the  ridge  between  the 
position  of  the  Second  Corps  and  Little  Round  Top ;  that  it  would  be  a 
position  where  the  Confederates  might  plant  their  artillery  and  pour  a 
destructive  fire  upon  the  Union  line.  For  that  reason  it  might  be  desira 
ble  to  hold  it ;  but  the  line  there  turned  a  right  angle,  and  that  was  a  dis 
advantage.  This  is  what  General  Hunt  says  in  regard  to  it : 

"  The  salient  line  proposed  by  General  Sickles,  although  much  longer, 
afforded  excellent  positions  for  our  artillery ;  its  occupation  would  cramp 
the  movements  of  the  enemy,  bring  us  nearer  his  lines,  and  afford  us  fa 
cilities  for  taking  the  offensive.  It  was,  in  my  judgment,  the  better  line 
of  the  two,  provided  it  were  strongly  occupied,  for  it  was  the  only  one  on 
the  field  from  which  we  could  have  passed  from  the  defensive  to  the 
offensive  with  a  prospect  of  decisive  results.  But  General  Meade  had  not, 
until  the  arrival  of  the  Sixth  Corps,  a  sufficient  number  of  troops  at  his 
disposal  to  risk  such  an  extension  of  his  lines ;  it  would  have  required 
both  the  Third  and  Fifth  corps,  and  left  him  without  any  reserve.  Had 
he  known  that  Lee's  attack  would  be  postponed  till  1  P.M.  he  might  have 
occupied  the  line  in  the  morning ;  but  he  did  not  know  this,  expected  an 
attack  at  any  moment,  and,  in  view  of  the  vast  risks  involved,  adopted  a 
defensive  policy  and  ordered  the  occupation  of  the  safe  line."(8) 

It  was  at  this  moment  that  the  troops  of  Ewell  were  moving  east  tow 
ards  Gulp's  Hill,  upon  which  the  batteries  on  •Cemetery  Hill  opened  fire; 
it  was  also  the  moment  of  the  encounter  between  the  sharp-shooters  and 
Hood. 


240  MARCHING  TO  VICTORY. 

General  Meade  rode  down  to  the  peach  orchard  and  examined  the 
line,  at  the  suggestion  of  General  Hunt,  who  says : 

"  I  was  here  met  by  Captain  Randolph,  the  Third  Corps  chief  of  artil 
lery,  who  informed  me  that  he  had  been  ordered  to  place  his  batteries  on 
the  new  line.  Seeing  Generals  Meade  and  Sickles  not  far  off  in  conver 
sation,  and  supposing  that  General  Meade  had  consented  to  the  occupation, 
I  sent  at  once  to  the  Reserve  for  inore  artillery,  and  authorized  other  gen 
eral  officers  to  draw  on  the  same  source." 

There  were  one  hundred  and  eight  guns  in  the  Reserve  Artillery, 
which  could  be  summoned  for  use  on  any  part  of  the  field,  in  addition  to 
the  two  hundred  and  twelve  attached  to  the  several  corps. 

General  Sickles  had  stationed  Ward's  brigade,  with  four  guns  of 
Smith's  New  York  Battery,  on  the  rocky  ridge  west  of  the  Devil's  Den, 
to  hold  the  extreme  left  of  his  line  and  the  approach  to  Little  Round 
Top.  He  had  stationed  Winslow's  New  York  Battery  on  the  eastern  edge 
of  a  wheat-field  east  of  Rose's  house,  between  Ward's  brigade  and  De  Tro- 
briand's  brigade,  which  was  located  in  the  woods  west  of  the  wheat -field 
with  part  of  Burling's  brigade.  This  brings  us  to  the  gap  extending  from 
the  woods  to  the  peach  orchard  —  quite  a  distance  along  the  road,  where 
there  was  not  a  regiment  of  infantry.  The  other  regiments  of  Burling's 
brigade,  together  with  Graham's  brigade  and  Clark's  New  Jersey  Battery, 
held  the  line  in  the  peach  orchard  facing  south  towards  Rose's  house. 
Humphreys's  division  of  the  Third  Corps,  with  several  batteries,  held  the 
Emmettsburg  road  northward  to  Codori's  house.  It  was  too  late  to  make 
any  change  in  the  line,  for  the  Confederate  batteries  were  opening  fire, 
and  the  battle  must  begin  with  the  troops  as  they  stood.  Lee's  army  con 
sisted  of  forty  brigades,  and  eighteen  of  them  were  in  position  to  take  part 
in  the  attack  upon  the  six  brigades  of  the  Third  Corps,  wrhich  must  look 
to  the  Second  and  Fifth  corps  for  assistance. 

The  horses  of  the  Union  Reserve  Art^lery  had  eaten  their  oats,  the 
cannoneers  were  resting  beneath  the  shade  of  the  trees,  smoking  their 
pipes  and  playing  cards,  when  an  aide  arrived  from  General  Hunt  with 
an  order  to  Colonel  McGilvery  for  more  batteries.  Hart's  Fifteenth  New 
York,  Phillips's  Fifth  Massachusetts,  and  Bigelow's  Ninth  Massachusetts 
went  out  past  Trostle's  house  ;  Hart's  to  take  position  in  the  peach  orchard, 
Phillips's  and  Bigelow's  to  fill  the  gap  along  the  road  leading  eastward 
from  the  orchard. 

The  sun  was  going  down  the  western  sky — a  lovely  summer  afternoon. 
The  swallows  were  twittering  around  the  eaves  of  Mrs.  Leister's  humble 
home,  unmindful  of  the  coming  and  going  of  men  on  horseback.  Fleecy 


LITTLE   ROUND   TOP.  243 

clouds  flecked  the  sky,  and  a  gentle  breeze  came  from  the  south-west,  as 
yet  untainted  with  nitrous  and  sulphurous  fumes.  For  an  hour  there  had 
been  a  pattering  fire,  like  the  first  drops  which  precede  a  summer  shower. 
Suddenly  the  Confederate  cannon  in  the  woods  by  Mr.  Warfield's  opened 
fire ;  also  those  north  of  Gulp's  Hill — the  artillery  of  Swell's  corps.  The 
Union  batteries  were  quick  to  respond.  Then  came  the  rattling  fire  of 
Stoughton's  sharp-shooters — the  Second  Regiment,  posted  behind  a  wall 
and  fences  —  delivered  into  the  faces  of  Law's  Alabama  brigade.  The 
sharp-shooters  held  their  ground  with  great  pertinacity.  "My  whole 
regiment,"  writes  Colonel  Sheffield,  of  the  Forty -eighth  Alabama,  "was 
brought  to  the  front  the  third  time,  only  to  be  driven  back."(9) 

"  In  a  few  seconds  one-fourth  of  my  regiment  were  killed  or  disabled," 
is  the  statement  of  the  colonel  of  the  Forty-fourth  Alabama.(10) 

When  the  sharp-shooters  were  compelled  to  fall  back,  a  portion  re 
treated  past  the  left  flank  of  Ward's  brigade,  in  front  of  Little  Round 
Top,  held  by  the  Fourth  Maine.  We  shall  see  them  again. 

Onward  through  the  woods,  crossing  the  brook  which  trickles  south 
from  Mr.  Rose's  house,  past  his  spring  -  house,  where  he  kept  his  milk, 
marched  Law's  and  Robertson's  brigades,  following  the  sharp-shooters. 
They  were  in  the  woods,  where  there  are  large  trees  and  bowlders.  They 
began  to  ascend  the  slope  towards  the  position  held  by  Ward. 

"  Don't  fire  until  you  can  see  them  plainly,"  were  the  instructions  of 
Ward. 

The  troops  of  his  brigade  could  hear  the  rustling  of  last*  year's  dead 
leaves  as  the  sharp-shooters  came  streaming  in.  Smith's  four  cannon  be 
gan  to  flash,  and  then  the  battle  broke  out  in  all  its  fury — rolls  of  mus 
ketry,  the  yells  of  the  Texans  of  Hood's  division,  and  the  cheers  of  the 
Union  men,  the  wails  of  the  wounded  commingled. 

This  a  description  by  a  Confederate  artilleryman : 

"  On  the  slope  of  a  wooded  hill  our  infantry  were  forming  for  a 
charge.  Federal  infantry  were  thick  in  front  of  them,  assisted  by  artil 
lery,  which  poured  a  storm  of  shrapnel  into  our  ranks.  Rhett's  battery 
of  our  battalion  was  already  blazing  away  from  the  crest  of  the  hill,  and 
they  were  said  to  have  lost  thirty  men  in  as  many  minutes. 

" '  Cannoneers,  mount !     Forward  !' 

"  Quickly  we  rushed  between  the  already  moving  cannon- wheels,  and 
nimbly  sprang  into  our  seats — all  except  John  Hightower,  who  missed 
his  hold,  and  the  great  heavy  weight  rolled  over  his  body.  Did  we  halt  ? 
No !  Not  if  your  brother  falls  by  your  side  must  you  heed  his  dying 
wail !  This  is  the  grim  discipline  of  war. 


MARCHING   TO   VICTORY. 

"  Never  shall  I  forget  the  scene  presented  on  this  hill  opposite  Round 
Top  Mountain.  The  Federal  shrapnel  rattled  like  hail  through  the  trees 
around  us,  while  our  infantry,  which  was  preparing  to  charge,  swayed 
backward  and  forward,  in  and  out,  like  a  storm-cloud  vexed  by  contrary 
winds. 

"  '  Give  it  to  them,  boys !'  said  one  of  the  infantry. 

"  <  We'll  do  it,'  I  responded. 

" '  Ah,  I  see  you  are  of  the  right  grit.' 

"  When  he  spoke  to  me  I  was  repeating  the  lines — 

"  '  For  right  is  right,  since  God  is  God, 

And  right  the  day  must  win; 
To  doubt  would  be  disloyalty, 
To  falter  would  be  sin.' 

Like  many  other  conceited  little  beings  who  inhabit  this  conceited  little 
world,  I  had  presumed  to  interpret  the  will  of  God,  and  anticipate  His 
policy  in  the  government  of  this- world. 

"  '  Fire  !  Fire  !  Fire  !'  And  each  gun  is  discharging  its  leaden  terrors 
into  the  ranks  of  the  foe.  But  now  comes  the  brave  infantry.  Wofford 
of  Georgia,  his  hat  off,  and  his  bald  head  shining  in  the  sun,  dashes  through 
our  battery,  followed  by  his  brigade.  Out  flashed  Captain  Parke's  sword, 
while  the  words  '  Hurrah  for  you  of  the  bald  head '  issued  from  his  lips. 
'  Hurrah  for  you  of  the  bald  head '  was  repeated  by  the  cannoneers,  while 
the  charging* Georgians  swept  down  the  hill-side,  driving  the  retreating  foe 
to  the  opposite  hill."(") 

At  this  hour  I  rode  up  the  eastern  slope  of  Little  Hound  Top,  tied 
my  horse,  clambered  over  the  rocks,  and  came  to  the  summit,  where  stood 
an  officer  of  the  Signal  Corps  and  his  assistant.  The  panorama  of  the 
battle  was  before  me.  At  my  feet  were  Plum  Run  and  a  meadow  thick 
ly  strewn  with  bowlders.  Beyond  them  the  Devil's  Den,  with  Ward's 
brigade  and  the  four  guns  of  Smith's  battery  upon  the  crest  of  the  ridge. 
North-west  of  the  ledge  was  Winslow's  battery,  on  the  eastern  edge  of  a 
wheat-field  ;  and  up  the  line,  beyond  another  grove,  were  Bigelow's  Ninth 
Massachusetts,  Phiilips's  Fifth  Massachusetts,  and  Clark's  batteries.  In 
the  peach  orchard  was  Hart's ;  along  the  Emmettsburg  road  a  line  of 
guns,  all  smoking.  A  white  cloud  was  rising  from  the  woods  between 
the  Devil's  Den  and  Rose's  house,  with  rolls  of  musketry  mingling  with 
the  cannonade.  From  the  woods  by  Warfleld's  house  the  Confederate 
cannon  were  sending  solid  shot  and  shells  towards  the  peach  orchard. 
Northward  towards  the  seminary,  and  the  scene  of  the  first  day's  battle, 


LITTLE   KOUND   TOP.  245 

the  Confederate  artillery  was  sending  its  missiles  through  the  air.  Look 
ing  towards  the  cemetery,  I  saw  it  covered  with  a  white  cloud. 

De  Trobriarid's  and  Ward's  brigades,  and  Winslow's  and  Smith's  bat 
teries,  were  confronting  Robertson's,  Law's,  Benning's,  Semmes's,  Ker- 
shaw's,  Wofford's,  and  Anderson's  Confederate  brigades.  Union  ambu 
lances  were  coming  out  of  the  woods  and  moving  towards  the  Taneytown 
road.  Staff-officers  were  galloping  over  the  fields  and  pastures,  carrying 
orders.  The  battle-cloud  was  too  dense  to'  see  what  was  going  on  beyond 
the  Confederate  lines,  but  from  the  woods  came  the  prolonged  yell  of  the 
Confederates,  mingled  with  the  hurrahs  of  the  Union  soldiers.  The  air 
was  thick  with  shells.  White  clouds  suddenly  burst  into  view  where 
before  there  was  only  the  sky.  There  was  a  whirring  of  jagged  pieces 
of  iron,  mingled  with  the  continuous  singing  of  the  leaden  rain. 

General  Meade  had  authorized  Sickles  to  call  upon  General  Sykes,  of 
the  Fifth  Corps,  for  reinforcements,  and  Barnes's  division  moved  forward 
towards  the  wheat-field,  where  Winslow's  battery  was  sending  canister  into 
the  ranks  of  the  Confederates. 

The  battle  was  coming  nearer.  It  began  to  break  at  the  foot  of  Little 
Round  Top  on  the  flank  of  the  Fourth  Maine.  All  this  time  the  only 
persons  on  Little  Round  Top  were  the  signal-officer  and  his  assistant  and 
myself.  Another  came,  General  Warren,  engineer-in-chief  of  the  army. 
He  took  a  survey  of  the  scene,  saw  that  the  Confederates  were  folding 
round  the  left  flank  of  Ward's  brigade ;  that  Little  Round  Top  was  the 
key  to  the  position.  These  his  words : 

"The  whole  line  of  the  enemy  moved  on  us  in  the  most  confident 
tones.  While  I  was  with  the  signal-officer  the  musket-balls  began  to  fly 
around  us,  and  he  was  about  to  fold  up  his  flags  and  withdraw,  but 
remained  at  my  request  and  kept  waving  them  in  defiance.  Seeing  troops 
going  out  on  the  peach  orchard  road,  I  rode'down  the  hill,  and  fortunately 
met  my  old  brigade,  General  Ward  commanding.  It  had  already  passed 
the  point,  and  I  took  the  responsibility  to  detach  Colonel  O'Rorke,  the 
head  of  whose  regiment  I  had  struck,  who,  on  hearing  my  few  words  of 
explanation  about  the  position,  moved  at  once  to  the  hill-top.  About  this 
time  First  Lieutenant  Charles  E.  Hazlett,  of  the  Fifth  Artillery,  with  his 
battery  of  rifled  cannon,  arrived.  He  comprehended  the  situation  instant 
ly,  and  planted  his  guns  on  the  summit  of  the  hill."(ia) 

Vincent's  brigade  was  also  sent  by  General  Sykes  on  Warren's  repre 
sentations,  and  came  up  the  hill  on  the  run. 

There  were  too  many  bullets  in  the  air  for  the  comfort  of  a  non-com 
batant,  and  I  went  down  the  hill,  meeting  Vincent's  brigade.  A  few 


246  MARCHING  TO   VICTORY. 

minutes  later  the  battle  was  raging  furiously  on  the  western  slope  and 
around  the  summit. 

This  the  story  as  told  by  one  of  its  officers:  "Hazlett's  battery  came 
rapidly  up  and  plunged  directly  through  our  ranks,  the  horses  urged  to 
frantic  efforts  by  the  whips  of  their  drivers,  and  the  cannoneers  assisting 
at  the  wheels.  As  we  reached  the  crest  a  never-to-be-forgotten  scene 
burst  upon  us.  A  great  basin  lay  before  us  full  of  smoke  and  fire,  and 
literally  swarming  with  riderless  horses  and  fighting,  fleeing,  and  pursuing 
men.  The  air  was  saturated  with  the  sulphurous  fumes  of  battle,  and 
was  ringing  with  the -shouts  and  groans  of  the  combatants.  The  wild 
cries  of  charging  lines,  the  rattle  of  musketry,  the  booming  of  artillery, 
and  the  shrieks  of  the  wounded  were  the  orchestral  accompaniments  of 
a  scene  like  a  very  hell  itself."(13) 

The  attack  of  Hood  was  upon  the  position  held  by  Ward's  brigade, 
with  the  purpose  of  gaining  Little  Round  Top.  The  first  shock  fell  upon 
Ward  and  De  Trobriand ;  Sweitzer's  and  Tilton's  brigades  came  to  their 
assistance — Sweitzer  in  the  woods  south  of  the  wheat-field,  and  Tilton  in 
the  field.  Tilton's  troops  were  wholly  exposed,  while  the  Confederates  were 
behind  a  stone-wall,  and  the  Union  troops  were  compelled  to  fall  back. 

Caldwell's  division  of  the  Second  Corps  came  down  past  Trostle's 
house.  The  line  formed  with  Cross's  brigade  in  the  woods  south  of  the 
wheat -field,  with  Brooks's  in  rear.  Kelley's  brigade  was  in  the  wheat- 
field,  and  in  the  grove  west  of  it,  with  Zook's  in  the  second  line.  In  the 
struggle  Cross  and  Zook  are  both  mortally  wounded. 

Like  the  waves  of  the  sea  eddying  among  the  rocks  of  a  rugged  shore, 
so  surged  the  contending  forces  over  the  knolls,  along  the  ravines,  the 
roads,  and  in  the  wheat-field. 

Brooks  dashed  upon  Semmes's  Confederate  brigade  and  drove  it 
through  the  woods,  across  the  ravine,  past  Hose's  spring-house,  to  the  top 
of  the  hill  beyond. 

The  Confederates  rallied,  and  Brooks  was  driven  in  turn. 

Ayres's  division  of  the  Fifth  Corps,  the  Regulars  of  the  United  States 
Army,  engaged  in  the  conflict,  taking  the  place  of  Caldwell's  division  of 
the  Second  Corps.  In  a  very  short  time  nearly  one-half  were  killed  or 
wounded.  Crawford's  division  of  the  Second  Corps  went  down  to  fight 
on  the  same  ground.  There  was  much  swaying  backward  and  forward 
in  the  wheat-field,  in  the  woods  west  and  south  of  it;  firing  across  the 
stone  wall ;  Confederate  brigades  striking  Union  brigades  in  flank,  to  find 
themselves  in  turn  out-flanked ;  the  Confederates  pushing  on  with  great 
bravery,  persistence,  and  energy,  meeting  stubborn  resistance,  but  gradu 


LITTLE   ROUND  TOP. 


24:7 


ally  gaining  ground — fold 
ing  round  the  left  flank  of 
the  Union  troops — and  Rob 
ertson's  brigade  advancing 
from  bowlder  to  bowlder, 
tree  to  tree,  up  the  southern 
slope  of  Little  Kound  Top, 
till  Colonel  Chamberlain, 
commanding  the  Twentieth 
Maine,  on  the  left  of  Yin- 
cent's  brigade,  was  obliged 
to  form  his  troops  in  the 
shape  of  the  letter  U.  The 
Confederates  fire  up  the 
hill,  picking  off  the  Union 
officers  one  by  one.  Yin- 
cent,  Weed,  Hazlett,  all  fell, 
also  Colonel  O'Rorke. 

The  Confederates  were 
astonished  to  receive  a  vol 
ley  from  behind  their  backs, 
coming  from  a  squad  of 
men  sheltered  behind  rocks 
and  trees,  fired  by  the  sharp 
shooters  of  Stoughton's  reg 
iment,  whom  we  saw  re 
treating  past  Ward's  bri 
gade  at  the  beginning  of 
the  conflict.  Robertson's 
troops  turned  to  see  whence 
the  volley  came  ;  Yincent's 
troops  thereupon  sprang 
over  the  rocks  and  dashed 
down  the  hill,  capturing 
two  colonels,  fifteen  other 
officers  —  nearly  five  hun 
dred  prisoners  in  all — driv 
ing  the  Confederates  back 
to  the  bowlders  of  the  Dev- 
i1.*  Den. 


248  MARCHING  TO   VICTORY. 

We  are  not  to  think  that  there  have  been  silence  and  inactivity  the 
while  by  Sherfy's  peach  orchard  and  in  the  fields  west  of  it  and  south 
ward  by  Rose's  house.  From  the  beginning  of  the  battle  the  ground  has 
been  swept  by  the  Union  and  Confederate  batteries.  When  Hood's  troops 
came  out  of  the  woods  by  Mr.  Warfield's  and  advanced  towards  Rose's 
house,  the  Union  batteries  changed  their  line  of  fire,  making  fearful  havoc 
in  the  ranks  of  Semmes's  brigade.  The  Fiftieth  Georgia  lost  a  third  of 
its  men  by  the  enfilading  fire  of  the  batteries  which  Sickles  had  placed  in 
position  east  of  the  orchard.(14) 

Kershaw's  South  Carolinians  came  through  Rose's  door-yard  with  a 
strong  line  of  skirmishers.  At  the  same  moment  Barksdale's  Mississippians 
and  Wofford's  Georgians  advanced  against  the  peach  orchard.  We  have 
seen  the  whole  of  the  Fifth  Corps  and  two  divisions  of  the  Second  Corps 
engaged  in  the  struggle  down  by  the  wheat-field.  Sickles  has  no  reserves ; 
there  are  no  Union  troops  at  hand  to  help  maintain  the  position  at  the  or 
chard.  Barksdale  is  brave  and  impetuous,  and  urges  on  his  troops. 

Sickles  sees  that  he  cannot  hold  the  angle.  McGilvery  orders  the  bat 
teries  in  the  orchard,  also  Clark  and  Phillips,  to  limber  up  and  hasten  to 
the  rear.  '  The  regiments  of  Graham's  and  Burling's  brigades  are  falling 
back,  fighting  obstinately,  pressed  by  Barksdale  and  the  brigades  of  An 
derson  from  the  west,  with  Kershaw  thrusting  his  troops  into  the  gap  east 
of  the  orchard.  They  must  fall  back  or  be  cut  off.  The  batteries  from 
the  orchard,  leaving  many  of  their  horses  killed  or  wounded  behind  them, 
make  their  way  eastward  past  Trostle's  house,  the  men  tugging  at  the 
wheels  to  help  the  limping,  wounded  animals. 

McGilvery  rides  to  Captain  Bigelow,  commanding  the  Ninth  Massa 
chusetts.  "  Limber  up  and  get  out  as  quick  as  you  can,"  he  shouts. 

"  I  shall  lose  all  my  men  in  limbering  up,  but  I  can  retire  by  prolong;" 
and  the  gunners  stretch  out  the  ropes,  hitch  the  horses  to  them,  and  so, 
loading  his  cannon  with  double  charges  of  canister,  he  begins  to  fall  back 
through  the  field  towards  Trostle's  house,  firing  at  Kershaw  advancing 
through  the  field  south  of  the  road.  But  down  through  the  peach  orchard 
came  Barksdale,  following  the  retreating  troops  of  Burling  and  Graham. 

"Keep  back  Kershaw's  skirmishers  with  canister,"  was  Bigelow's 
order  to  Lieutenant  Milton,  commanding  two  guns  on  the  left.  "  Send 
solid  shot  into  Barksdale's  men,"  the  order  to  Lieutenants  Erickson  and 
Whitaker.(16) 

To  keep  clear  of  the  fire  of  the  cannon  a  portion  of  Barksdale's  troops 
moved  to  the  right.  The  guns  were  in  Trostle's  door-yard,  and  a  portion 
of  the  Mississippians  ran  to  gain  the  shelter  of  the  barn,  firing  from  .'he 


LITTLE   ROUND   TOP.     ,  249 

windows.  The  Twenty-first  Mississippi  advanced  directly  down  the  road 
and  across  the  field  from  the  orchard.  Kershaw  the  while  was  advanc 
ing  on  the  left,  the  South  Carolinians  jumping  over  a  wall  and  creeping, 
under  its  shelter,  towards  the  battery. 

No  infantry  supports,  except  a  handful  of  men — not  a  dozen  in  all — of 
the  One  Hundred  and  Eighteenth  Pennsylvania,  of  Tilton's  brigade,  are  at 
hand.  Graham's  and  Brewster's  brigades  have  been  pushed  back ;  Hum- 
phreys's  division  is  changing  front  to  meet  Barksdale,  widening  the  gap 
by  Trostle's. 

It  is  the  crisis  of  the  conflict,  the  moment  of  the  struggle  on  Little 
Round  Top.  McGilvery,  leaving  the  Ninth  Massachusetts  Battery  to  hold 
to  the  last  the  position  at  Trostle's,  is  bringing  twenty-five  guns  into  posi 
tion  along  the  ridge.  These  his  parting  words  to  Bigelow  : 

"  There  is  not  an  infantryman  back  of  you ;  you  must  remain  and  sac 
rifice  your  battery  if  need  be  until  I  can  find  some  batteries  to  put  in 
position  and  cover  you."(18) 

Down  upon  the  battery  came  the  Mississippians,  shooting  horses  and 
men,  receiving  double-shotted  charges  till  the  canister  was  all  gone.  Lieu 
tenant  Milton,  seeing  the  horses  of  the  other  pieces  dropping,  tore  down 
a  gap  in  the  wall,  leaped  his  over  it,  and  escaped  with  two  pieces ;  but 
those  attached  to  the  other  guns  were  shot. 

Some  of  the  men  were  killed,  but  the  living  bore  the  rammers  and 
sponges  from  the  field  so  that  the  Confederates  could  not  use  the  guns. 
Captain  Bigelow  ie  wounded,  and  falls  from  his  horse.  Lieutenant  Erick- 
son,  twice  wounded,  falls  beside  his  gun,  and  his  horse  goes  upon  the  run 
into  the  lines  of  the  Mississippians.  Lieutenant  Whitaker  is  wounded, 
but  escapes.  Bigelow  is  lifted  upon  another  horse  and  reaches  the  rear. 
One  cannoneer  is  killed  while  trying  to  spike  his  gun.  Of  the  four  bat 
tery  officers  one  is  killed,  another  mortally  wounded,  the  third  slightly 
wounded.  Of  seven  sergeants  two  are  killed  and  four  wounded.  Eighty 
out  of  the  eighty-eight  horses  have  been  shot.  The  battery  has  been  sac 
rificed,  but  it  has  accomplished  a  great  end  in  delaying  for  half  an  hour 
the  advance  of  Kershaw  and  Barksdale,  who  otherwise  would  have  had 
a  clear  and  unopposed  passage  to  the  crest  of  the  ridge. 

General  Sickles  was  wounded  by  Trostle's  barn,  and  Hancock,  of  the 
Second  Corps,  was  sent  by  General  Meade  to  take  command. 

The  Mississippians  gave  a  shout  of  victory  when  they  seized  Bigelow's 
four  guns.  In  the  rush  their  lines  had  been  broken,  and  it  took  time 
for  them  to  reform.  South  of  them  Wofford  was  pushing  towards  the 
ridge,  when  there  came  a  sheet  of  flame  from  its  crest.  It  was  McGil- 


250  %  MARCHING  TO   VICTORY. 

verj's  opening  fire — so  destructive  that  the  Georgians  could  not  face  it, 
but  were  compelled  to  find  shelter  behind  rocks,  trees,  and  fences. 

We  have  seen  Caldwell's  and  Ayres's  divisions  of  the  Second  Corps 
engaged  in  the  struggle  in  front  of  Little  Round  Top.  Hancock  has 
only  Gibbon's  division  remaining.  It  is  seven  o'clock ;  the  sun  a  half- 
hour  above  the  horizon.  Humphreys's  division  of  the  Third  Corps  is  still 
holding  the  Eimnettsburg  road  by  Codori's,  but  its  left  flank,  instead  of 
facing  west,  is  formed  to  face  south  to  meet  Barksdale. 

The  time  has  come  for  Longstreet  to  hurl  the  whole  of  Anderson's 
division  of  Confederates  into  the  conflict ;  and  Wilcox's  brigade  comes 
across  the  road  a  little  south  of  the  house  where  Josephine  Miller  baked 
her  bread,  falling  upon  the  Union  batteries  before  the  drivers  could  hitch 
on  the  horses.  This  the  account,  of  a  Confederate  officer  : 

"  We  rushed  forward  and  captured  several  pieces  of  artillery  and  cais 
sons.  Some  of  them  were  defended  very  gallantly,  firing  grape  at  us 
when  within  fifty  yards  or  less.  One  little  fellow,  apparently  not  more 
than  fourteen,  sat  erect  on  the  lead-horse,  looking  straight  at  the  front, 
trying  to  whip  his  horses  forward.  His  two  wheel-horses  had  been  shot, 
and  he  did  not  know  it.  While  I  was  admiring  him  some  excited  Con 
federates,  to  fay  inexpressible  regret,  shot  him  down.  We  halted  and 
sheltered  ourselves  as  best  we  could,  and  kept  up  the  fight  for  perhaps 
half  an  hour.  One  time,  evidently  without  loaded  guns,  the  enemy 
charged  up  very  close  —  say  within  forty  yards  —  but  were  driven.  At 
last  our  line  was  broken  on  the  left,  and  we  fell  back,  but  could  not  take 
the  captured  cannon."(n) 

In  the  meadow  east  of  Codori's  house  the  battle  rages  with  great  fury. 
Hancock  sees  that  it  is  a  critical  moment,  and  sends  General  Willard  with 
three  regiments  to  meet  Barksdale,  who  is  riding  everywhere,  urging  on 
his  men — a  conspicuous  figure.  It  is  his  nature  to  be  aggressive.  His 
speeches  in  Congress,  before  the  war,  were  ever  vehement.  He  has  pressed 
the  conflict ;  has  captured  four  guns.  A  little  farther  and  he  will  be  upon 
Cemetery  Ridge.  Suddenly  he  reels  in  his  saddle.  A  bullet  has  pierced- 
him,  and  he  falls  with  a  mortal  wound.  Willard's  men  rush  past  him, 
driving  the  Mississippians,  who  in  turn  rally  to  rescue  their  wounded 
leader.  Willard  also  falls  with  a  mortal  wound. 

We  are  not  to  think  that  the  men  of  the  Third  Corps,  who  have  been 
forced  back  from  the  road  and  the  orchard,  have  fled ;  on  the  contrary, 
though  the  ranks  are  broken  and  in  disorder,  the  ground  is  held  with  great 
obstinacy.  Hancock  has  ordered  in  nearly  all  of  Gibbon's  division.  Gen 
eral  Meade  has  ordered  Slocum  from  Gulp's  Hill,  and  the  troops  of  the 


LITTLE   ROUND   TOP. 


253 


Sixth  and  Twelfth  corps 
are  coming,  but  will 
they  be  in  season  to  roll 
back  the  Confederates 
before  they  gain  pos 
session  of  the  ridge? 
The  sun  is  sinking ; 
men  can  see  but  dimly 
through  the  murky  bat 
tle  -  clouds.  Hancock 
discovers  Wilcox's  Con 
federate  brigade,  thinks 
the  troops  a  part  of  his 
own  command,  rides 
towards  them,  but  is 
welcomed  by  a  volley 
which  brings  down  his 
aide,  Captain  Miller.(18) 
Upon  the  ridge  behind 
him  is  Thomas's  bat 
tery,  with  eight  com 
panies  of  the  First 
Minnesota  Regiment 
(Colonel  Coville)  sup 
porting  it  —  two  hun 
dred  and  fifty-two  men. 
Hancock  rides  up  to 
the  regiment.  This  the 
story  as  told  by  one  of 
its  officers : 

"  Just  then  Hancock 
rode  up,  and,  unable  to 
conceal  his  agitation, 
asked,  in  almost  an 
guished  tones,  '  Great 
God,  is  this  all  the  men 
we  have  here  ?' . .  .  Not 
a  hundred  yards  behind 
us  was  the  Taneytown 
road,  crowded  with  our 


I    i 

IM 


II 


254  MARCHING   TO   VICTORY. 

wagons,  and  beyond  them  the  hospitals  and  trains.  If  Hancock  could  only 
stop  that  charging  mass  for  five  minutes.  Pointing  to  the  smoke-covered 
masses  of  the  advancing  foe,  he  cried, '  Colonel  Coville,  advance  and  take 
those  colors !' 

"  ( Forward  !'  shouted  our  gallant  colonel ;  and  as  one  man  the  regiment 
arose,  and,  as  if  on  review,  stepped  down  the  slope  towards  the  enemy. 
Their  cannon  opened  on  us,  and  shell  and  solid  shot  tore  through  the  ranks, 
and  the  more  deadly  Enfield  rifles  of  their  infantry  were  centred  on  us 
alone.  At  every  step  fall  our  men,  but  no  one  wavers.  Every  gap  is  closed 
up,  and,  bringing  down  their  bayonets,  the  boys  press  shoulder  to  shoulder. 
Five  color-bearers  are  shot  down,  and  five  times  our  flag  goes  proudly  for 
ward.  Within  a  hundred — within  fifty  yards  of  the  fire,  one-quarter  of  our 
men  already  fallen  and  yet  no  shot  has  been  fired. 

"  '  Charge !'  rang  the  order  along  the  line,  and  with  a  wild  cheer  we  ran 
at  them. 

"Their  extended  line  swept  round  our  flanks  like  the  waters  around 
a  rock;  but  before  us  they  gave. way,  for  we  empty  our  guns  with  the 
muzzles  at  their  very  hearts.  A  perfect  swath  of  men  sink  upon  the 
ground,  and  their  living  recoil  back  upon  their  second  line.  Their^  sup 
porting  lines,  confused  and  excited,  wildly  commence  firing  through  the 
mass  in  front,  slaughtering  their  own  men  and  throwing  them  into  confu 
sion. 

"  Our  object  had  been  obtained.  At  the  instant,  a  battery  on  our  left 
opened  and  poured  a  few  rapid  volleys  into  the  confused  mass,  and  swept 
it  from  the  field.  The  enemy  had  disappeared,  all  but  their  dead  and 
wounded,  and  over  their  prostrate  bodies  rang  the  hearty  cheers  of  our 
reinforcing  troops.  The  almost  fatal  attack  of  the  Confederates  had  been 
repulsed,  but  where  was  the  First  Minnesota  ?  Only  forty-seven  men  now 
gathered  around  our  colors — two  hundred  and  five  killed  and  wounded— 
none  missing.  It  was  the  Thermopylae  of  our  regirnent."(19) 

It  was  the  twenty-five  guns  of  McGilvery,  together  with  Thomas's  bat 
tery,  which  hurled  canister  into  the  ranks  of  the  Confederates. 

The  critical  moment  had  come  and  gone,  for  in  the  gloaming  the  troops 
of  the  Sixth  and  Twelfth  corps,  and  Stannard's  Vermont  Brigade,  attached 
to  the  First  Corps,  were  forming  on  Cemetery  Ridge,  and  it  was  their 
cheers  which  rang  through  the  enveloping  battle-cloud. 

Lono-street  examined  the  Union  lines.     He  saw  that  it  would  be  a 

o 

useless  sacrifice  to  attempt  to  force  them,  arid  so  the  sound  of  the  strife 
died  away,  the  cannons'  lips  were  cooling,  and  the  wearied  soldiers  of  both 
armies  threw  themselves  upon  the  ground  for  rest ;  the  Confederates  in 


LITTLE   ROUND   TOP. 


257 


the  fields  along  the  Emrnettsburg  road,  and  behind  the  ledges  of  the 
Devil's  Den,  and  in  the  fields  between  Hose's  house  and  the  orchard. 

Though  the  contest  had  ceased  in  the  fields  around  Codori's  and  Tros- 
tle's  farm-houses,  it  began  suddenly  amid  the  woods  on  Gulp's  Hill  and  on 
the  northern  slope  of  Cemetery  Hill. 


A          V 


WHERE  WEIDERICK'S  BATTERY  STOOD. 

The  view  is  east  towards  Gulp's  Hill.  Stevens's  Fifth  Maine  Battery  was  under  the  trees  in  the  distance 
at  the  right  hand.  Eustis's  brigade  was  behind  the  stone  wall  in  the  centre  of  the  view.  The  Confederates 
charged  up  the  hill  from  the  left. 

Johnson's  division  of  Swell's  corps  was  advancing  to  turn  the  right 
flank  of  the  Union  army.  All  of  the  Twelfth  Corps,  with  the  exception 
of  Green's  brigade,  had  been  taken  from  Gulp's  Hill  to  roll  back  the  Con 
federates  under  Longstreet.  Green  had  drawn  out  his  brigade  into  a 
thin  line  to  hold  all  the  ground.  The  Union  troops  had  thrown  up  breast 
works,  but  Johnson  captured  them  with  ease,  and,  satisfied  with  what  he 
had  done — not  knowing  that  thirty  rods  farther,  and  he  would  be  in  pos 
session  of  the  Baltimore  turnpike — rested  for  the  night. 

It  was  nine  o'clock  when  Hays's  and  Hoke's  brigades  of  Early's  division, 
creeping  stealthily  along  a  hedge  fence  at  the  foot  of  the  northern  slope  of 
17 


258  MARCHING  TO   VICTORY. 

Cemetery  Hill,  with  a  yell,  rushed  upon  Weiderick's  battery  and  Ames's 
brigade  of  the  Eleventh  Corps.  There  was  a  fierce  struggle,  hand-to-hand 
lights,  the  cannoneers  wielding  their  rammers.  One  Union  soldier  seized 
a  stone  arid  hurled  it  upon  a  Confederate,  dashing  out  his  brains.  Sergeant 
Geible,  of  the  One  Hundred  and  Seventh  Ohio,  carrying  the  colors,  was 
shot.  A  Confederate  soldier  seized  them.  Adjutant  Young  shot  him  with 
his  revolver,  but  the  next  moment  two  bullets  pierced  him.  A  Confeder 
ate  officer  aimed  a  blow  at  his  head,  which  Lieutenant  Suhrer  parried,  and 
the  colors  were  saved. 

The  Union  troops  in  the  field  north  of  the  turnpike  were  driven,  and 
Confederates  for  a  few  moments  held  the  cannon,  but  the  Fifth  Maine 
Battery,  under  Lieutenant  Whittier,  on  the  western  slope  of  Gulp's  Hill, 
opened  upon  the  Confederates  with  an  enfilading  fire.  Eustis's  brigade, 
behind  a  wall  in  the  hollow  east  of  the  hill,  fired  to  the  left-oblique.  Car 
roll's  brigade  came  upon  the  double-quick  across  the  eastern  slope  of  Cem 
etery  Hill,  sent  by  Hancock,  and  the  Confederates  were  driven,  leaving 
the  ground  thickly  strewn  with  killed  and  wounded. 

It  was  ten  o'clock  before  the  contest  ended.  So  closed  the  second 
day. 

NOTES  TO  CHAPTER  XII. 

1 ])  Longstreet," Annals  of  the  War,"  p.  422. 

( 2)  Longstreet,  Century  Magazine,  February,  1887. 

( 3)  Josephine  Miller  to  author. 

(  4)  Longstreet,  "Annals  of  the  War,"  p.  422. 
( *)  Berdan,  Statement,  National  Tribune,  1886. 
(  6)  Owen, "  In  Camp  and  Battle,"  p.  244. 

( 7)  General  Law,  Century  Magazine,  December,  1886. 

( 8)  General  Hunt,  Century  Magazine,  December,  1886. 

( 9)  Colonel  Sheffield,  unpublished  papers  (War  Department). 

(10)  Colonel  Perry,  unpublished  papers  (War  Department). 
(")  "Story  of  a  Boy's  Company,"  p.  139. 

(12)  General  Warren  to  Porter  Farley,  Rochester  Democrat,  December  3, 1877. 

(13)  Porter  Farley,  Rochester  Democrat,  December  3, 1877. 

(14)  General  McLaws  to  J.  W.  Baker, "  History  of  the  Ninth  Massachusetts  Battery  ' 

(15)  Major  Bigelow, "  History  of  the  Ninth  Massachusetts  Battery." 

(16)  Idem. 

(")  Colonel  Herbert,  Eighth  Alabama,  unpublished  papers  (War  Department). 

(18)  General  Walker,"  History  of  the  Second  Corps,"  p.  283. 

(19)  McGinnis,  Memorial  Address,  before  First  Minnesota  Regiment. 


CEMETERY  RIDGE.  259 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

CEMETERY     RIDGE. 

WHAT  next  shall  be  done?  is  the  great  question  ever  confronting  a 
general  commanding  an  army.  In  battle  he  must  be  quick  to  de 
cide.  General  Lee  did  not  hesitate.  He  called  no  council  of  his  officers, 
but  acted  on  his  own  judgment.  Stuart  had  arrived  at  last  with  the  cav 
alry,  after  a  long  ride  from  Carlisle.  A.  P.  Hill  and  Ewell  had  swept  the 
First  and  Eleventh  Union  corps  from  their  position  on  the  first  day.  Long- 
street  had  pushed  the  Third  Corps  from  the  Emmettsburg  road,  had  all 
but  gained  Little  Round  Top,  had  compelled  Meade  to  hurry  a  portion  of 
the  Twelfth  Corps  from  Gulp's  Hill,  which  enabled  Johnson's  division  of 
Ewell's  corps  to  gain  possession  of  a  coveted  position  without  fighting  a 
battle.  Johnson  was  where  he  could  threaten  Meade's  right  and  rear, 
only  a  short  distance  from  the  Baltimore  turnpike.  Stuart  had  come 
down  from  the  north,  and  was  in  the  best  possible  position  to  act  in  con 
cert  with  Johnson,  and  make  havoc  of  Meade's  trains.  Pickett's  division 
of  Longstreet's  corps  had  arrived  from  Cashtown.  Johnson's  and  Pick 
ett's  troops  were  fresh,  and  so  were  Posey's  and  Mahone's  brigades  of 
Hill's  corps,  and  Smith's,  of  Ewell's.  Longstreet's  success  in  pushing  the 
Third  Corps  from  the  Emmettsburg  road  would  enable  him  to  plant  all 
the  artillery  along  that  position,  and  pour  a  destructive  fire  upon  the  cen 
tre  of  Meade's  line ;  and  at  the  right  moment  he  would  hurl  Pickett  and 
Anderson  upon  that  point,  break  through,  and,  in  conjunction  with  John 
son's  division^on  Gulp's  Hill  and  Stuart  with  the  cavalry,  make  the  rout 
of  the  Union  army  complete.  That  the  plan  of  General  Lee,  who  ordered 
Ewell  to  begin  the  attack  at  daylight.  Johnson  was  reinforced  by  Daniel's 
and  O'Neal's  brigades. 

Early  in  the  morning  General  Lee  rode  to  Longstreet's  headquarters. 
"  General,"  said  Longstreet,  "  I  have  had  my  scouts  out  all  night,  and  I 
find  that  you  still  have  an  excellent  opportunity  to  move  around  to  the 
right  of  Meade's  army  and  manoeuvre  him  into  attacking  us."^) 

"  The  enemy  is  there,  and  I  am  going  to  strike  him,"  Lee  replied, 
pointing  towards  Cemetery  Hill. 


260  MARCHING  TO  VICTORY. 

"  General,  I  have  been  a  soldier  all  my  life.  I  have  been  with  soldiers 
engaged  in  fights  by  couples,  by  squads,  companies,  regiments,  divisions, 
and  armies,  and  should  know  as  well  as  any  one  what  soldiers  can  do.  It 
is  my  opinion  that  no  fifteen  thousand  men  ever  arrayed  for  battle  can 
take  that  position." 

General  Lee  entered  upon  no  argument,  but  directed  Longstreet  to 
prepare  Pickett's  division  for  the  attack.  These  Longstreet's  words :  "  I 
should  not  have  been  so  urgent  had  I  not  foreseen  the  hopelessness  of  the 
proposed  assault.  I  felt  that  I  must  say  a  word  against  the  sacrifice  of  my 
men ;  I  felt  that  my  motives  were  such  that  General  Lee  would  or  could 
not  misconstrue  them.  I  said  no  more,  however,  but  turned  away." 

General  Meade  had  been  turning  over  the  great  question  as  to  what 
should  be  done.  Ought  not  the  army  to  fall  back  to  a  stronger  position, 
where,  joined  by  reinforcements,  it  could  make  victory  sure  ?  In  the  first 
day's  battle  the  First  and  Eleventh  corps  were  cut  to  pieces.  t  Thousands 
of  stragglers  had  made  their  way  towards  Westminster  and  Taneytown. 
In  the  fight  of  the  second  day  tlie  Third  Corps,  small  at  the  beginning, 
had  suffered  fearful  loss.  The  Fifth  Corps  had  made  frightful  sacrifice; 
the  Second  Corps  had  lost  many  men ;  the  Sixth  and  Twelfth  corps  alone 
were  fresh.  General  Meade  held  a  consultation  of  his  corps  .commanders. 
The  majority  were  opposed  to  retreating.  To  retreat  would  be  acknowl 
edgment  of  defeat ;  the  army  was  not  defeated.  If  it  had  suffered  great 
losses  Lee's  had  been  greater,  so  they  reasoned. 

I  passed  the  night  in  a  small  house  near  Rock  Creek,  a  short  distance 
south  of  the  turnpike.  I  did  not  know  that  I  was  within  musket-shot  of 
the  extreme  left  of  the  Confederate  line,  with  only  the  pickets  between. 
I  was  early  in  the  saddle,  and  found  Ruger's  division  of  the  Twelfth  Corps 
was  lying  in  the  pastures  along  the  Baltimore  turnpike.  On  the  two  hills 
south  were  three  batteries  of  the  Reserve  Artillery,  the  cannon  pointing 
north,  to  rain  shells  upon  the  woods  where  the  Confederates  were  holding 
the  Union  breastworks,  which  they  had  seized  in  the  night. 

The  clouds  hung  low  upon  the  hills.  It  was  a  sultry  morning.  I 
heard  two  guns,  deep  and  heavy,  breaking  the  stillness ;  two  more,  and 
then  the  uproar  began.  They  were  Union  cannon.  General  Meade  had 
taken  the  offensive,  determined  to  recover  Gulp's  Hill.  It  was  an  an 
nouncement  to  General  Lee  that  the  Union  army  was  to  fight  it  out  upon 
the  spot ;  that,  instead  of  being  disheartened,  it  was  about  to  put  forth  its 
aggressive  strength. 

Emerging  from  a  grove,  the  scene  burst  upon  me.  The  cemetery, 
Powers's  Hill,  and  McAllister's  Hill,  south  of  the  turnpike,  were  aflame, 


CEMETERY  RIDGE.  261 

sending  shells  into  the  green  wood  north  of  the  turnpike.  There  were  a 
few  musket-shots  from  the  skirmishers  in  the  woods  upon  the  hill.  Slo- 
cum's  troops  were  preparing  for  the  assault. 

The  four  brigades  which  left  Gulp's  Hill  and  went  upon  the  double- 
quick  towards  Little  Bound  Top  at  sunset  returned  to  the  Baltimore  turn 
pike  at  eleven  in  the  night,  to  find  that  the  Confederates  had  quietly  taken 
possession  of  the  breastworks  which  they  had  constructed.  There  was  a 
grim  humor  about  it  which  the  men  of  the  Twelfth  Corps  did  not  relish, 
and  which  put  them  on  their  mettle/ 

Greene's  brigade  of  Geary's  division  was  holding  the  western  slope  of 
the  hill ;  Kane's  and  Candy's  brigades  stood  next  in  line  ;  Ruger's  division 
occupied  the  ground  east  to  Rock  Creek ;  Lockwood's  brigade  faced  north, 
McDougall's  north-west,  Colgrove's  west. 

East  of  the  creek  Neill's  brigade  of  the  Sixth  Corps  held  the  left  of 
the  line.  In  the  rear  of  Geary  were  Shaler's  and  Wheaton's  brigades  of 
the  Sixth  Corps. 

General  Ewell  Jiad  no  artillery  in  position  to  reply  to  the  Union  guns, 
and  his  troops,  sheltered  by  the  thick  forest  and  the  breastworks,  suffered 
little  from  the  cannonade.  But  an  artillery  fire  long  sustained  is  trying 
to  the  best-trained  troops,  though  they  have  marched  to  victory  under  a 
leader  like  Stonewall  Jackson. 

Colonel  Colgrove's  brigade  formed  in  a  grove  between  the  turnpike 
and  Rock  Creek,  the  Twenty-seventh  Indiana  on  the  right ;  then  the  Sec 
ond  Massachusetts.  They  were  to  charge  across  the  marshy  lowland  and 
the  brook  which  winds  through  it,  to  strike  the  left  of  the  Confederate 
line.  It  was  but  a  few  rods ;  five  minutes  would  suffice  to  carry  them 
across  the  meadow.  The  signal  was  given,  and  they  moved  on.  There 
came  a  volley.  Men  dropped,  but  the  living  went  forward  upon  the  run. 

Five  minutes,  and  the  remnant  drifted  back — broken,  shattered. 

On  a  granite  bowlder  near  the  eastern  edge  of  the  meadow  stands  a 
tablet  erected  by  the  survivors  of  the  Second  Massachusetts.  Thus  it  reads  : 
"  From  the  hill  behind  this  monument,  on  the  morning  of  July  3,  1863, 
the  Second  Massachusetts  Infantry  made  an  assault  upon  the  Confederate 
troops  in  the  works  at  the  base  of  Gulp's  Hill,  opposite.  The  regiment 
carried  into  the  charge  twenty-two  officers  and  two  hundred  and  ninety- 
four  enlisted  men.  It  lost  four  officers  and  forty-one  enlisted  men  killed, 
and  six  officers  and  eighty-four  enlisted  men  wounded." 

Back  over  the  meadow  they  retreated,  followed  by  the  exultant  Confed 
erates;  but  they  reformed  amid  the  trees,  faced  about,  and  strewed  the 
ground  with  Confederate  dead  by  their  deliberate  volleys. 


262  MARCHING  TO   VICTORY. 

Johnson  was  just  ready  to  advance  when  Slocum  began  the  assault. 
Had  the  Union  army  waited  a  few  minutes,  the  struggle  would  have  been 
along  the  Baltimore  pike,  instead  of  in  the  woods  and  along  the  bowlders 
on  Gulp's  Hill.  Johnson  could  not,  from  the  nature  of  the  ground,  bring 
forward  his  artillery,  and  after  the  first  cannonade  by  the  Union  batteries 
the  battle  was  wholly  by  the  infantry. 

From  seven  o'clock  till  eleven  there  was  a  ceaseless  tempest,  wholly  in 
the  woods,  for  the  possession  of  the  breastworks,  men  firing  from  behind 
trees  and  bowlders.  The  oaks  were,  pitted  with  bullets.  Gradually  the 
Confederates  were  pushed  back,  losing  at  last,  in  a  charge  by  the  Union 
troops,  three  stands  of  colors  and  five  hundred  prisoners,  besides  more  than 
two  thousand  killed  and  wounded.  At  eleven  o'clock  the  Union  line. was 
intact  once  more,  holding  the  ground  from  Gulp's  Hill  to  Cemetery  Hill, 
and  thence  to  the  summit  of  Great  Round  Top,  with  breastworks  nearly 
the  entire  distance.  Through  the  night  and  morning  the  soldiers  had 
been  at  work  with  shovels  and  axes,  and  the  line  was  stronger  than  ever. 

Lee  has  one  division  (Pickett's,  of  Longstreet's  corps)  which  had  taken 
no  part  in  the  battle.  The  troops  had  arrived  from  Chambersburg.  They 
were  eager  to  take  part  in  the  struggle.  Anderson's  division  of  Hill's 
corps  was  comparatively  fresh,  having  taken  but  little  part  since  the  after 
noon  of  the  first  day.  With  such  a  body,  numbering  about  fifteen  thou 
sand  men,  he  would  strike  the  last  great  blow. 

The  Union  signal-officer  on  Round  Top,  looking  westward  over  fields 
and  groves,  could  see  the  Confederate  troops  gathering  in  the  woods  south 
of  the  seminary.  He  caught  glimpses  of  batteries  coming  into  position. 

The  cemetery  ridge  south  of  Zeigler's  Grove  is  lower  than  the  ground 
by  Codori's  house.  General  Lee  confidently  believed  that  he  could  open 
fire  with  all  his  artillery  upon  the  Union  lines  from  an  assaulting  column 
in  the  woods  west  of  Codori's  house ;  that  when  the  Union  line  had  been 
demoralized  by  the  cannonade  he  could  sweep  the  troops  across  the  field 
west  of  the  Emmettsburg  road,  hurl  them  like  a  thunder-bolt  upon  the 
Union  troops  south  of  Zeigler's  Grove,  divide  Meade's  line  at  the  centre, 
folding  the  two  halves  back — one  upon  Little  Round  Top,  the  other  upon 
Gulp's  Hill — as  he  would  open  two  folding-doors,  thus  winning  the  vic 
tory — a  single  crushing  blow.  At  the  same  moment  he  would  have  Stuart 
with  the  cavalry  gain  the  rear  of  the  Union  army,  east  of  Gulp's  Hill,  fall 
upon  Meade's  wagons,  and  make  the  rout  complete. 

I  was  at  Meade's  headquarters  when  an  officer  came  from  Cemetery 
Hill  with  a  message  from  General  Howard  that  the  Confederate  cavalry 
could  be  seen  moving  eastward.  The  divisions  of  Union  cavalry,  Gregg's 


CEMETERY   RIDGE.  263 

and  Kilpatrick's,  were  by  Rock  Creek,  near  the  Baltimore  turnpike,  water 
ing  their  horses.  It  was  past  eleven  o'clock  when  a  messenger  rode  down 
with  an  order  for  Gregg  to  go  out  and  meet  Stuart,  and  for  Kilpatrick  to 
go  south  of  Round  Top  and  fall  upon  the  extreme  right  of  Longstreet. 

"  Bugler,  blow  your  horn  !  Come  on,  boys !"  said  Kilpatrick.  The 
clear  notes  of  the  cornet  rang  out,  and  Kilpatrick's  division  turned  south. 
I  joined  General  Gregg's  division,  which  went  upon  a  trot  down  the  turn 
pike  a  short  distance,  then  north-east  through  the  fields  and  pastures.  We 
soon  came  in  sight  of  the  Confederate  cavalry. 

Gregg  had  three  regiments  of  Mcln tosh's  brigade,  Costar's  and  Irvin 
Gregg's  brigades,  Randol's  and  Pennington's  batteries — almost  five  thou 
sand  men. 

Stuart  had  Thompson's,  W.  H.  F.  Lee's,  Fitz-Hugh  Lee's,  and  Jenkins's 
brigades — nearly  seven  thousand. 

A  road  runs  north  from  the  Baltimore  pike,  and  crosses  the  Bonnaugh- 
town  road,  and  is  known  as  the  Low  Dutch,  or  Salem  Church  road.  The 
house  of  Mr.  Reeves  stands  at  the  crossing. 

A  portion  of  the  Confederates  had  come  down  into  the  field,  but  after 
a  few  cannon-shot  they  fell  back.  Thinking  that  there  might  not  be  an 
immediate  engagement,  I  rode  to  a  large  farm-house,  where  I  found  a 
woman  and  her  four  daughters  hard  at  work  baking  bread  for  the  soldiers. 
I  was  at  the  dinner-table  when  one  of  the  daughters  came  in,  exclaiming 
that  the  Confederates  were  coming.  Stepping  to  the  door,  I  saw  a  regi 
ment  wheeling  into  line  in  the  field  but  a  short  distance  from  the  monu 
ment  which  now  marks  the  scene  of  the  conflict.  My  horse  was  eating 
his  oats  in  the  door-yard,  and  I  had  not  finished  my  own  dinner.  The 
Confederates  might  be  sweeping  down  upon  the  house,  but  I  was  a  citi 
zen,  and  they  probably  would  not  molest  me.  Besides,  the  Union  cavalry 
were  forming  to  confront  them,  so,  standing  upon  the  flank  of  both  Union 
and  Confederate,  I  saw  the  rush  —  the  gleaming  of  sabres,  the  carbines' 
flashes,  pistol-shots,  horses  leaping  and  plunging,  riders  going  down,  and 
the  retreat  of  the  Confederates  to  the  field  north  of  Mr.  Rumrnel's  house. 
For  a  time  there  was  inaction ;  Gregg  was  standing  on  the  defensive.  He 
was  to  keep  Stuart  from  gaining  the  Baltimore  turnpike. 

Thinking  that  there  might  not  be  any  serious  engagement,  I  left  the 
cavalry  and  rode  towards  the  cemetery  once  more,  for  a  cannonade  was 
going  on,  mingled  with  a  rippling  of  musketry.  West  of  the  Emmetts- 
burg  road,  between  Codori's  house  and  the  seminary,  stood  the  farm-house 
of  Mr.  Bliss,  who  had  a  large  barn,  the  lower  story  of  which  was  of  brick. 
The  Confederate  skirmishers  had  used  it  on"  the  morning  of  the  second, 


264:  MARCHING   TO    VICTORY. 

but  had  been  driven  out  by  the  Twelfth  New  Jersey ;  but  they  were 
again  in  the  barn,  firing  from  the  windows,  picking  off  the  Union  troops. 
The  batteries  in  the  cemetery  sent  shells  and  solid  shot  into  the  building, 
but  the  Confederates  crouched  beneath  the  brick  walls  and  still  remained. 
The  Fourteenth  Connecticut,  of  Smyth's  brigade,  was  detailed  to  drive 
them  out.  Eight  companies  went  down  through  the  field.  Men  began 
to  drop.  "  Scatter  and  run !"  was  the  order  shouted  by  General  Hays, 
commanding  the  division.  The  ranks  divided  and  rushed  on,  and  drove 
out  the  Confederates;  but  they  rallied  in  the  orchard,  and  others  came 
to  assist  them.  It  was  an  engagement  to  see  which  should  have  posses 
sion  of  the  premises.  General  Hays  determined  to  settle  the  matter. 
The  Confederates  saw  an  officer  riding  down  from  the  Union  line.  The 
sharp-shooters  aimed  at  him,  bullets  sang  about  his  ears,  but  he  kept 
straight  on. 

"  General  Hays  orders  that  you  set  the  buildings  on  fire,"  he  shouted 
to  the  officer  commanding  the  Connecticut  men,  then  turned  and  rode 
back,  the  bullets  spinning  past  him.  He  reached  the  crest  of  the  ridge, 
raised  his  hat  and  saluted  the  Confederates,  who,  admiring  his  coolness 
and  bravery,  sent  out  a  hearty  cheer.  It  was  Captain  Postles,  of  the  First 
Delaware.  A  moment  later  the  flames  were  rising  from  the  house  and 
barn,  and  adding  another  feature  to  the  lurid  scene. 

Indications  pointed  to  a  renewal  of  battle  on  the  part  of  the  Confed 
erates,  and  every  Union  officer  was  on  the  alert  —  especially  along  the 
ridge  between  Zeigler's  Grove  and  Little  Round  Top,  the  point  where  the 
attack  was  likely  to  be  made.  Robinson's  division  of  the  First  Corps  was 
in  the  grove.  Then  came  Hays's  division  of  the  Second  Corps,  the  front 
line  along  a  low  stone  wall,  the  second  line  east  of  the  crest  of  the  ridge. 
Beyond  Hays's  division  was  Gibbon's,  behind  a  rail  fence.  The  soldiers 
had  taken  down  the  rails,  laid  them  in  a  pile,  and  through  the  forenoon 
had  scooped  a  shallow  trench,  in  which  they  were  lying.  A  small  copse 
of  scrubby  oaks  marked  the  position.  Three  regiments  of  Stannard's 
Vermont  Brigade  were  in  front  of  the  main  line,  around  a  copse  of  trees 
and  tangled  vines. 

The  troops  selected  by  General  Lee  to  make  the  attack,  or  to  co-oper 
ate  in  it,  were  Hill's  corps  and  Pickett's  division  of  Longstreet's — in  all, 
twenty-one  brigades,  under  the  direction  of  Longstreet,  that  there  might 
be  united  action  under  one  commander.  Pickett's,  Anderson's,  and  Heth's 
divisions  were  to  lead  in  the  assault,  to  be  supported  by  Pender's,  Trim 
ble's,  and  Rodes's  divisions.  To  insure  success  the  troops  were  to  advance 
in  a  column  or  lines  of  brigades.  On  the  right  of  the  line  in  front  was 


CEMETERY  RIDGE.  265 

Kemper's  brigade,  with  Armistead  in  the  second  line ;  then  Garnet  and 
Scales,  Archer  and  Field,  Lane  and  Pettigrew ;  to  be  followed  on  the 
right  by  Wilcox  and  Perry,  in  the  centre  by  AY  right,  on  the  left  by  Posey 
and  McGowan,  Thomas's  and  Rodes's  divisions  of  Swell's  corps. 

General  Armistead  was  riding  along  his  brigade,  and  came  to  the  Fifty- 
third  Virginia,  and  called  out  Robert  Tyler,  the  seventeen-year-old  grand 
son  of  President  Tyler,  who  carried  the  colors. 

"  Do  you  see  those  breastworks  over  yonder  ?"  he  asked. 

"  Yes,  sir." 

"  Well,  I  want  you  to  plant  that  flag  on  them." 

"  General,  I  will  do  it  or  die,"  said  the  boy.(a) 

Colonel  Alexander  through  the  morning  had  been  arranging  the  Con 
federate  artillery.  He  had  seventy-five  cannon  at  the  peach  orchard  and 
vicinity,  and  along  the  woods  behind  Hill's  troops  sixty-three  more — one 
hundred  and  thirty-eight — which  were  to  fire  directly  upon  the  cemetery 
and  the  ridge  south  of  it.(3)  When  the  infantry  brigades  were  all  in  posi 
tion  ready  to  advance,  General  Longstreet  was  to  fire  two  cannon  as  the 
signal  for  the  opening  of  the  cannonade,  which  it  was  supposed  would 
silence  the  Union  artillery,  and  so  demoralize  the  Union  troops  that  Pick- 
ett  and  Anderson  would  sweep  all  before  them. 

General  Hunt,  commanding  the  Union  artillery,  was  arranging  his  bat 
teries.  This  his  account : 

"  Compactly  arranged  on  the  crest  of  the  ridge  was  McGilvery's 
artillery — forty-one  guns.  Well  to  the  right,  in  front  of  Hays  and  Gib 
bon,  was  the  artillery  of  the  Second  Corps,  under  its  chief,  Captain  Haz 
ard.  Woodruff's  battery  was  in  Zeigler's  Grove ;  on  his  left,  in  succession, 
Arnold's  Rhode  Island,  Cushing's  United  States,  Brown's  Rhode  Island, 
and  Rorty's  New  York  ;  total  number  in  the  corps,  twenty-six.  Daniel's 
battery  of  horse  artillery,  four  guns,  was  between  McGilvery  and  Hazard. 
In  addition,  some  of  the  guns  on  Cemetery  Hill,  and  Rittenhouse's  bat 
tery,  on  Little  Round  Top,  could  be  brought  to  bear  ;  but  these  were  off 
set  by  batteries  similarly  placed  on  the  flanks  of  the  enemy,  so  that  in  the 
Second  Corps  line,  within  the  space  of  a  mile,  were  seventy-one  guns  to 
oppose  nearly  one  hundred  and  fifty.  They  were  on  an  open  crest,  plain 
ly  visible  from  all  parts  of  the  line."  .  .  .(*) 

This  the  scene  at  eleven  o'clock : 

"  Our  whole  front  for  two  miles  was  covered  by  (Confederate)  bat 
teries  already  in  line  or  going  into  position.  They  stretched,  apparently 
in  one  unbroken  mass,  from  opposite  the  town  to  the  peach  orchard, 
which  bounded  the  view  to  the  left,  the  ridges  of  which  were  planted 


266  MARCHING   TO   VICTORY. 

thick  with  cannon.  Never  before  had  such  a  sight  been  witnessed  on 
this  continent,  and  rarely,  if  ever,  abroad.  What  did  it  mean  ?  It  might 
possibly  be  to  hold  that  line  while  its  infantry  was  sent  to  aid  Ewell,  or 
to  guard  against  a  counter-stroke  from  us ;  but  it  most  probably  meant  an 
assault  on  our  centre,  to  be  preceded  by  a  cannonade  in  order  to  crush  our 
batteries  and  shake  our  infantry  —  at  least  to  cause  us  to  exhaust  our 
ammunition  in  reply,  so  that  the  assaulting  troops  might  pass  in  good  con 
dition  over  the  half-mile  of  open  ground  which  was  beyond  our  effective 
musketry  fire." 

General  Hunt  believed  that  it  was  to  be  a  direct  assault  by  a  body  of 
troops  concealed  in  the  woods  south  of  the  seminary,  and  made  arrange 
ments  to  meet  it.  These  his  instructions  : 

"  Beginning  at  the  right,  I  instructed  the  chiefs  of  artillery  and  battery 
commanders  to  withhold  their  fire  for  fifteen  or  twenty  minutes  after  the 
cannonade  commenced,  then  to  concentrate  their  fire,  with  all  possible 
accuracy,  on  those  batteries  which  were  most  destructive  to  us,  but  slowly, 
so  that  when  the  enemy's  ammunition  was  exhausted,  we  should  have 
sufficient  left  to  meet  the  assault." 

Neither  General  Hunt  nor  General  Meade  issued  any  orders  to  the 
Union  artillery  to  prevent  the  Confederate  artillery  from  coming  into 
position.  "  The  enemy,  conscious  of  the  strength  of  his  position,  simply 
sat  still  and  waited  for  us,"  writes  Colonel  Alexander,  of  the  Confederate 
artillery. 

General  Longstreet  did  not  approve  of  the  contemplated  attack,  and 
was  greatly  depressed  in  spirits. (6)  His  troops  were  to  make  what  he 
believed  to  be  a  hopeless  charge ;  that  they  would  be  sacrificed  with  noth 
ing  gained,  and  that  he  would  be  obliged  to  issue  the  order.  He  could 
not  do  it,  and  at  noon  sent  this  note  to  Colonel  Alexander : 

"  COLONEL, — If  the  artillery  fire  does  riot  have  the  effect  to  drive  off 
the  enemy  or  greatly  demoralize  him,  so  as  to  make  our  efforts  pretty 
certain,  I  would  prefer  that  you  should  not  advise  General  Pickett  to 
make  the  charge.  I  shall  rely  greatly  on  your  good  judgment  to  deter 
mine  the  matter,  and  shall  expect  you  to  let  General  Pickett  know  when 
the  moment  offers." 

It  was  a  startling  note,  and  Colonel  Alexander,  who  shrank  from  taking 
such  a  responsibility,  sent  this  reply  : 

u  I  will  not  be  able  to  judge  of  the  effect  of  our  fire  on  the  enemy 
except  by  his  return  fire,  for  his  infantry  is  but  little  exposed  to  view,  and 
the  smoke  will  obscure  the  whole  field.  If,  as  I  infer  from  your  note, 
there  is  any  alternative  to  this  attack,  it  should  be  carefully  considered 


CEMETERY   RIDGE.  269 

before  opening  our  fire,  for  it  will  take  all  the  artillery  ammunition  we 
have  left  to  test  this  one  thoroughly,  and  if  the  result  is  unfavorable  we 
will  have  none  left  for  another  effort.  And  even  if  this  is  entirely  success 
ful,  it  can  only  be  so  at  a  very  bloody  cost." 

Colonel  Alexander  a  few  moments  later  received  a  reply  from  Long- 
street  : 

"  The  intention  is  to  advance  the  infantry  if  the  artillery  has  the 
desired  effect  of  driving  the  enemy's  off,  or  having  other  effect  such  as  to 
warrant  us  in  making  the  attack.  When  the  moment  arrives,  advise  Gen 
eral  Pickett,  and  of  course  advance  such  artillery  as  you  can  use  in  aiding 
the  attack." 

General  Wright,  who  was  in  the  attack  on  the  evening  of  the  second, 
was  with  Colonel  Alexander,  and  read  the  notes. 

"  It  is  not  so  hard  to  go  there  as  it  looks ;  I  was  nearly  there  with  my 
brigade  yesterday.  The  trouble  is  to  stay  there.  The  whole  Yankee 
army  is  there  in  a  bunch. "(") 

Colonel  Alexander  rode  to  General  Pickett,  and  found  that  he  was 
sanguine  as  to  the  result.  He  and  his  troops  were  in  the  best  of  spirits. 
They  had  been  resting  after  their  march  of  the  morning.  They  had 
heard  of  the  success  of  Hill's  and  Swell's  troops  on  the  first  day,  and  how 
Longstreet  and  McLaws  had  driven  the  Union  troops  from  the  peach 
orchard  and  the  Emmettsburg  road,  and  it  was  left  for  them,  with  the 
aid  of  Hill's  troops,  to  complete  the  victory,  and  win  the  great  decisive 
battle  which  would  give  the  Confederacy  a  place  among  the  nations.  Not 
a  man  doubted  it.  General  Pickett  was  so  certain  as  to  what  the  result 
would  be  that  Colonel  Alexander  determined  there  should  be  no  indeci 
sion  on  his  part.  This  the  note  which  he  sent  to  Longstreet :  "  When 
our  artillery  fire  is  at  its  best,  I  shall  order  Pickett  to  charge." 

I  had  nearly  reached  Meade's  headquarters  from  the  position  occupied 
by  the  cavalry,  when  I  heard  two  cannon — the  guns  agreed  upon  as  the 
signal  on  the  part  of  the  Confederate  artillery.  My  watch,  set  to  Wash 
ington  time,  pointed  to  five  minutes  past  one. 

The  guns  were  fired  by  Lieutenant  Brown's  section  of  the  First  Com 
pany  of  Washington  Artillery.Q  Instantly  from  below  the  peach  orchard, 
northward  to  the  Theological  Seminary,  from  Benner's  Hill,  north-east  of 
Gettysburg,  not  only  from  the  one  hundred  and  thirty-eight  cannon  which 
Alexander  had  arranged,  but  from  Swell's  guns,  more  than  one  hundred 
and  fifty  in  all,  came  solid  shot  and  shells.  The  air  seemed  to  be  full  of 
missiles.  A  moment  later  there  came  a  crash  from  the  Union  artillery- 
all  the  batteries — those  on  Little  Kound  Top,  along  the  ridge,  in  the  cemo- 


270  MARCHING   TO   VICTORY. 

tery,  round  to  the  western  slope  of  Gulp's  Hill.  The  instructions  of  Gen 
eral  Hunt  were  for  the  batteries  to  wait  a  little  while  before  replying,  but 
flesh  and  blood  could  not  wait.  Nor  can  I  see  that  anything  would  have 
been  gained  by  waiting.  The  Confederate  fire  from  the  outset  was  de 
structive,  and  equally  damaging  was  that  of  the  Union  cannon.  This  the 
record  of  Colonel  Alexander : 

"  In  a  minute  every  gun  was  at  work.  The  enemy  were  not  slow  in 
coming  back  on  us,  and  the  grand  roar  of  nearly  the  whole  artillery  of 
both  armies  burst  in  on  the  silence  almost  as  suddenly  as  the  full  notes 
of  an  organ  could  fill  a  church.  .  .  .  The  enemy's  position  seemed  to  have 
broken  out  with  guns  everywhere,  and  from  Round  Top  to  Cemetery  Hill 
was  blazing  like  a  volcano.  The  air  seemed  full  of  missiles  from  every 
direction." 

A  Confederate  shell  exploding  in  the  cemetery  killed  or  wounded 
twenty-seven  men.  General  Meade's  headquarters  were  directly  in  the 
line  of  fire  from  the  one  hundred  and  thirty-eight  Confederate  cannon. 
Solid  shot  tore  through  the  house.  Shells  exploded  in  the  door-yard, 
wounding  horses,  cutting  down  the  peach-trees,  ripping  open  bags  of  oats, 
sending  General  Meade,  his  staff,  and  the  newspaper  correspondents  for 
shelter  elsewhere — General  Meade  into  the  woods  eastward,  where  his 
'headquarters  flag  was  stuck  in  the  ground  beside  a  huge  bowlder.  Not  that 
General  Meade  attempted  to  screen  himself  or  staff,  but  to  prudently  find 
a  place  less  exposed  than  the  cottage  of  Mrs.  Leister,  whose  roof  could  be 
plainly  seen  by  the  Confederates  at  the  peach  orchard.  One  hundred  mis 
siles  a  minute  swept  across  the  ridge,  crashing  through  baggage-wagons, 
ambulances,  exploding  caissons,  and  adding  confusion  and  horror  to  the 
scene. 

A  soldier  lying  on  the  ground  not  far  from  me  is  suddenly  whirled  into 
the  air.  I  hear  the  whir  of  the  approaching  shell ;  the  next  moment  the 
living  form  is  a  mass  of  mangled  flesh,  broken  bones,  and  streaming  blood. 

For  nearly  an  hour  the  terrible  storm  howls  and  rages,  and  then  there 
comes  a  sudden  silence  on  the  part  of  the  Union  guns. 

General  Hunt,  comprehending  the  intention  of  Lee  that  the  cannonade 
was  to  be  followed  by  an  advance,  wishing  to  have  a  supply  of  ammuni 
tion  at  the  decisive  moment,  directed  the  batteries  to  cease  firing.  The 
gunners  throw  themselves  upon  the  ground  beside  their  pieces. 

General  Longstreet  was  with  General  Pickett.  A  courier  came  with 
a  note  from  Colonel  Alexander  to  Pickett,  written  five  minutes  before  the 
Union  artillery  ceased: 

"  If  you  are  coming  at  all  you  must  come  at  once,  or  I  cannot  give  you 


CEMETERY  RIDGE.  271 

proper  support;  but  the  enemy's  fire  has  not  slackened  at  all — at  least 
eighteen  guns  are  still  firing  from  the  cemetery  itself,"(8)  read  the  note. 
Five  minutes  passed,  and  the  brazen  lips  of  all  the  Union  cannon  were 
silent,  and  the  guns  in  the  cemetery  limbered  up  and  disappeared. 

"If  he  does  not  run  up  fresh  batteries  in  five  minutes  this  is  our  fight/1 
says  Colonel  Alexander,  who  is  looking  through  his  glass  towards  the 
cemetery,  where  he  can  see  the  ground  thickly  strewn  with  dead  horses 
and  men.  The  five  minutes  pass ;  no  batteries  come  to  take  the  place  of 
those  which  had  disappeared.  The  Confederate  artillery  has  not  ceased, 
but  the  cannon  are  firing  with  greater  vigor,  now  that  no  answering  shot 
comes  from  the  cemetery  ridge. 

Colonel  Alexander  does  not  know  that  Major  Osborne,  commanding 
the  Union  guns  in  the  cemetery,  is  only  biding  his  time  ;  that  his  batteries 
are  resting  behind  the  cemetery ;  that  in  a  twinkling  they  will  be  flaming 
again.  He  does  not  mistrust  that  General  Hunt  has  anticipated  just  what 
the  Confederate  movement  is  to  be ;  that  the  tempest  will  be  more  terrific 
than  ever  when  the  time  comes  for  action. 

Colonel  Alexander  shuts  his  glass,  and  writes  once  more : 

"  For  God's  sake  come  quick.  The  eighteen  minutes  are  gone  ;  come 
quick,  or  my  ammunition  won't  let  me  support  you  properly." 

The  messenger  hands  it  to  Pickett,  who  reads  it  and  passes  it  to  Long- 
street. 

"Shall  I  advance ?"(*) 

No  word  in  reply ;  only  a  bow  from  Longstreet,  as  he  mounts  his  horse. 

"  I  shall  lead  my  division  forward,  sir." 

Longstreet  makes  no  reply,  but  rides  away. 

This  the  scene  of  the  moment,  as  given  by  a  Confederate : 

"  While  Longstreet  was  still  speaking,  Pickett's  division  swept  out  of 
the  wood,  and  showed  the  full  length  of  its  gray  ranks  and  shining  bay 
onets,  as  grand  a  sight  as  ever  man  looked  on.  Joining  it  on  the  left,  Pet- 
tigrew  stretched  farther  than  I  could  see.  Gen.  Dick  Garnett,  just  out 
of  a  sick-ambulance,  and  buttoned  up  in  an  old  blue  overcoat,  riding  at  the 
head  of  his  brigade,  passed  us  and  saluted  Longstreet.  "(10) 

At  the  moment,  I  was  near  the  cemetery  and  heard  a  chorus  of  voices 
saying,  "  There  they  come !"  Up  from  the  ground  sprang  the  cannoneers, 
who  ran  their  guns  forward  into  position  and  began  to  fire.  At  the  same 
moment  the  cannon  on  Little  Round  Top  broke  the  silence.  The  Union 
cannon  along  the  ridge  were  still  dumb.  Their  time  had  not  come.  The 
Confederate  cannon  ceased,  to  enable  the  infantry  to  advance,  but  after 
the  troops  bad  moved  on,  renewed  their  fire. 


272  MARCHING  TO  VICTORY. 

Up  in  the  cemetery,  General  Howard,  watching  the  advancing  Confed 
erates,  turned  to  Major  Osborne,  commanding  the  artillery,  and  said,  "  The 
Second  Corps  and  the  artillery  will  take  care  of  the  assaulting  column ; 
concentrate  your  fire  upon  their  supports ;"(")  and  the  cemetery  cannon 
opened  a  destructive  enfilading  fire  upon  the  troops  which  General  Lee 
intended  should  drive  home  the  wedge  which  Pickett,  Anderson,  and 
Heth  were  to  insert  in  the  Union  line. 

The  front  line  of  the  Confederates  reaches  the  Emmettsburg  road,  the 
Union  pickets  falling  back,  to  be  out  of  the  line  of  fire  which  they  know 
will  soon  open.  There  is  an  ominous  silence  along  Cemetery  Ridge.  Says 
Hancock  in  his  account:  "  The  column  pressed  on,  coming  within  musket 
ry  range,  our  men  evincing  a  striking  disposition  to  withhold  their  fire 
until  it  could  be  delivered  with  deadly  effect." 

The  Confederates  are  crossing  the  road  north  of  Codori's  house,  when 
the  cannon  on  the  ridge  open  upon  them.  They  descend  the  gentle  slope, 
and  then  comes  the  first  roll  of  musketry  from  the  two  Yermont  regi 
ments  thrown  out  in  front  of  the  main  line,  sending  an  oblique  fire  upon 
Kemper,  who  moves  on  to  strike  the  Second  Corps.  The  Confederates 
are  between  the  road  and  the  low  stone  wall  behind  which  Gibbon's  and 
Hays's  troops  are  lying,  when  the  first  hot  blast  from  the  front  bursts 
upon  them.  They  come  to  a  halt  and  return  the  fire — loading,  firing, 
again  advancing.  Garnett  falls  dead ;  Kemper  goes  down  wounded ; 
Armistead,  gray-haired  —  the  only  general  officer  of  the  division  after 
Pickett — waves  his  sword.  "  Come  on,  boys !"  he  shouts,  and  they  rush 
on  towards  the  wall — foe  to  fall  mortally  wounded. (l2) 

The  supporting  brigades  on  the  left  at  this  moment  were  coming 
within  canister  range,  and  the  double-shotted  cannon  in  the  cemetery  were 
cutting  them  to  pieces,  the  howitzers  firing  twice  in  sixty  seconds  —  a 
death-tempest  so  pitiless  that  the  brigades  melted  away  as  the  snow-flake 
in  the  running  stream,  the  regiments  breaking  and  disappearing.  Officers 
tried  to  rally  them,  but  in  vain.  "Pickett  galloped  down  and  implored 
them  to  rally,  but  they  were  panic-stricken,  and  no  effort  could  induce 
them  to  form  anew  while  under  that  terrific  storm  of  fire,"  writes  a  Con 
federate  officer.  (13) 

Note  to  Second  Day's  Engagement. 

1.  Sherfy's  house  and  peach  orchard. 

2.  Position  of  Fifth  and  Ninth  Massachusetts  batteries. 

3.  Trestle's  house. 

4.  Wheat-field,  and  right  of  Ward's  brigade. 

5.  Peter  Rogers's  house. 

6.  Codori's  house  and  barn.     Humphreys's  division  extended  from  this  point  along  the 
Eramettsburg  road,  past  Rogers's  house. 


CEMETERY  RIDGE. 


275 


7.  Cemetery  Hill. 

8.  Where  McGilvery  massed  his  guns.     The  line  selected  by  General  Sickles  extended 
from  Codori's  south  to  Sherfy's  orchard,  figure  1 ;  then  to  figure  2,  where  it  crossed  the 
road.    Burling's  brigade  in  part  occupied  the  wood  to  the  left  of  figure  2;  Winslow's  bat 
tery  was  at  figure  4;  Ward's  brigade  extended  through  the  woods  to  the  left,  to  the  Devil's 
Den,  not  seen  in  the  view.     On  the  Union  side,  Birney's  division  of  the  Third  Corps,  the 
Fifth  Corps,  and  Caldwell's  division  of  the  Second  Corps,  fought  to  the  left  of  figures  2— 

On  the  Confederate  side  were  Hood's  and  McLaws's  divisions  of  Longstreet's  corp  . 
Hood's  movement  was  to  gain  Little  Round  Top.     The  retreat  of  the  Union  troops  wag 
across  the  ground  between  Little  Round  Top  and  Trestle's  house,  back  to  figure  8.     Ker 
shaw's  Confederate  brigade  advanced  through  the  woods  to  the  left  of  figure  3;  Barks- 
dale  advanced  between  figures  3  and  5;  Wilcox's  and  the  other  brigades  of  Hill's  corps, 
under  figure  6. 

Willard's  brigade  of  the  Second  Corps  and  the  First  Minnesota  Regiment  advanced  from 
the  position  between  figures  7  and  8,  drove  the  Confederates  to  figure  6,  and  recaptured 
the  Union  cannon  left  in  the  retreat. 


Note  to  Third  Day's  Engagement. 

The  Union  line  extended  from  Little  Round  Top  to  figure  7.  Stannard's  brigade  was 
in  advance  of  the  main  line,  at  figure  9;  the  advance  of  Pickett  and  Anderson  was  from 
figures  1,  3,  5,  and  6,  across 
the  open  field  between  figures 
5  and  6;  Pickett  crossed  the 
road  between  figures  6  and  7; 
AVilcox,  who  was  in  the  rear 
of  Pickett,  crossed  the  road 
between  figures  5  and  6.  The 
third  Confederate  line  was  in 
the  open  field  between  figures 
5  and  6,  and  was  cut  to  pieces 
by  the  cannon  on  Little  Round 
Top  and  those  on  Cemetery 
Hill,  figure  7. 

When  Pickett  reached  the 
stone  wall  between  figures  7 
and  8,  Stannard's  brigade  at 
figure  9  made  its  flank  move 
ment  northward  towards  fig 
ure  7,  the  farthest  point 
reached  by  the  Confederates. 

10  is  Gulp's  Hill,  the  ex 
treme  left  of  the  Union  line. 

The  brigades  of  Pick 
ett  are  up  to  the  stone 
wall,  pouring  their  vol 
leys  into  the  faces  of  the 
Sixty-ninth   and   Seven 
ty-first  Pennsylvania  of  Webb's  brigade,  which  are  pushed  back  by  Armi- 
stead's  men,  Robert  Tyler,  true  to  his  promise,  planting  Iris  colors  on  the 
wall.     All  of  the  guards  are  killed,  the  colors  are  shot  to  pieces.     A  bullet 


POSITION  OF   TROOPS  THIRD   DAY  AT  GETTYSBURG. 


276  MARCHING  TO    VICTORY. 

tears  through  Tyler's  shoulder,  and  he  and  the  flag  go  down  together. 
He  tries  to  rise,  but  a  second  bullet  inflicts  a  mortal  wound. (14) 

The  Confederates  rush  up  to  the  muzzles  of  Gushing' s  cannon.  Gushing 
fires  his  last  shot  and  falls  dead  beside  his  guns.  There  is  a  desperate  strug 
gle — the  bayonet-thrust,  pistol-shot,  clubbing  of  muskets,  men  summoning 
all  their  strength  into  a  supreme  effort.  Hancock  is  everywhere  along  the 
line.(15)  "  Strike  them  in  flank  !"  he  shouts  to  Stannard ;  and  the  Yermont- 
ers  make  a  half-wheel  to  the  right,  march  north,  and  deliver  their  volleys. 

"  Where  shall  we  go  in  ?"  Colonel  Devereux,  of  the  Nineteenth  Massa 
chusetts,  of  Hall's  brigade,  in  the  second  line,  puts  the  question.  "  There !" 
Hancock  points  to  the  gap  by  Cushing's  guns,  and  the  regiments  of  the 
brigade  rush  forward  to  throw  themselves  into  the  breach. (16) 

From  right  and  left  the  brigades  of  the  Second  Corps  press  in.  The 
two  Pennsylvania  regiments,  which  were  pushed  from  the  wall,  have  not 
fled,  but  have  rallied  behind  the  crest.  Smyth's  brigade  is  confronting 
Pettigrew,  while  Harrow's  brigade  comes  from  the  left,  and  the  Eighth 
Ohio,  which  has  been  on  the  picket  line,  closes  in  upon  his  flank.  In  the 
melee,  uproar,  confusion,  and  carnage,  amid  the  roar  of  cannon,  rolls  of 
musketry,  explosion  of  shells,  whirring  of  canister  and  musket-balls,  amid 
yells  and  oaths  and  curses,  brave  deeds  are  done  by  Confederate  and  Union 
alike.  There  is  an  utter  disregard  of  life — men  in  blue  and  men  in  gray 
are  animated  by  one  thought  only — to  conquer. 

Fifteen  minutes!  it  seems  an  hour.  When  General  Pickett  looks 
round  for  his  supports  they  are  not  there  to  fold  back  the  door  which  he 
has  opened,  and  which  has  already  closed  again.  The  cannon  of  the  ceme 
tery  have  decimated  the  supporting  brigades  on  the  left,  while  Wilcox 
and  Perry,  who  were  to  have  come  up  on  the  right,  are  just  starting  from 
their  positions  west  of  the  Ernmettsburg  road,  not  to  follow  up  his  attack, 
but  through  some  misdirection  to  make  an  independent  and  futile  move 
ment  south  of  Codori's  house. 

The  Confederates  along  the  stone  wall  see  that  no  help  is  at  hand, 
that  to  attempt  to  retreat  will  be  almost  certain  death,  and  four  thousand 
five  hundred  throw  down  their  arms  and  rush  into  the  Union  lines,  while 
those  farther  out  upon  the  field  seek  safety  in  flight.  Then  from  Little 
Round  Top  to  Cemetery  Hill  rises  a  mighty  chorus  of  voices  shouting  the 
paean  of  victory. 

Says  Longstreet,  "  When  the  smoke  cleared  away,  Pickett's  division 
was  gone.  Nearly  two-thirds  of  his  men  lay  dead  on  the  field,  and  the  sur 
vivors  were  sullenly  retreating  down  the  hill.  In  a  half  hour  the  con 
tested  field  was  cleared,  and  the  battle  of  Gettysburg  was  over."(17) 


CEMETERY  RIDGE.  277 

It  was  a  feeble  movement  made  by  Wilcox  and  Perry — repulsed  easily 
by  McGilvery's  guns — not  made  till  too  late  to  have  any  effect,  for  the  bat 
tle  had  already  been  decided. 

Lieutenant-colonel  Freernantle,  of  the  British  Army,  was  riding  at  the 
moment  through  the  woods  to  Longstreet's  position.  This  his  account : 

"When  I  got  close  up  to  General  Longstreet,  I  saw  one  of  his  regi 
ments  advancing  through  the  woods  in  good  order ;  so,  thinking  I  was 
just  in  time  to  see  the  attack,  I  remarked  to  the  general  that  '  I  wouldn't 
have  missed  this  for  anything.'  Longstreet  was  seated  on  the  top  of  a 
snake  -  fence,  in  the  edge  of  the  wood,  and  looking  perfectly  calm  and 
unperturbed.  He  replied,  '  The  devil  you  wouldn't !  I  would  like  to 
have  missed  it  very  much ;  we've  attacked  and  been  repulsed.  Look 
there !' 

"  For  the  first  time  I  then  had  a  view  of  the  open  space  between  the 
two  positions,  and  saw  it  covered  with  Confederates  slowly  and  sulkily  re 
turning  towards  us  in  small  broken  parties.  .  .  . 

"  I  remember  seeing  a  general  (Pettigrew,  I  think  it  was)  come  up  to 
him  and  report  that  he  was  unable  to  bring  his  men  up  again.  Longstreet 
turned  upon  him  and  replied  with  some  sarcasm,  '  Very  well,  never  mind, 
then,  general ;  just  let  them  remain  where  they  are.  The  enemy  is  going 
to  advance,  and  will  spare  you  the  trouble.'. . . 

"  Soon  afterwards  I  joined  General  Lee,  who  had  in  the  mean  while 
come  to  the  front,  on  becoming  aware  of  the  disaster.  He  was  engaged  in 
rallying  and  in  encouraging  the  troops.  .  .  .  He  was  addressing  to  every 
soldier  he  met  a  few  words  of  encouragement,  such  as,  '  All  this  will  come 
right  in  the  end  ;  we  will  talk  it  over  afterwards,  but  in  the  mean  time  all 
good  men  must  rally.  We  want  all  good  men  and  true  men  just  now,' 
etc.  .  .  .  He  said  to  me,  '  This  has  been  a  sad  day  for  us,  colonel,  a  sad 
day;  but  we  can't  expect  always  to  gain  victories.' ...  I  saw  General  Wil 
cox  (an  officer  who  wears  a  short  round  jacket  and  a  battered  straw 
hat)  come  up  to  him,  and  explain,  almost  crying,  the  state  of  his  bri 
gade.  General  Lee  immediately  shook  hands  with  him,  and  said,  cheer 
fully,  'Never  mind,  general.  All  this  has  been  my  fault  —  it  is  I  that 
have  lost  this  fight,  and  you  must  help  me  out  of  it  in  the  best  way  you 
can.'  "(18) 

The  conflict  had  ceased  in  Codori's  fields,  but  south  of  Round  Top  and 
out  on  Rummel's  farm  the  cavalry  were  still  engaged.  The  cavalry  south 
of  Round  Top  advanced  resolutely,  with  two  objects  in  view — the  capture 
of  some  of  Longstreet's  trains,  and  a  diversion  which  would  prevent  Long- 
street  from  advancing  once  more  against  Little  Round  Top.  Merritt's  bri< 


278 


MARCHING  TO  VICTORY. 


gade  deployed  on  the  left,  and  attacked  G.  B.  Anderson's  Georgia  Brigade, 
supported  by  two  batteries.  Farnsworth's  brigade  deployed  on  the  right, 
next  to  Round  Top,  charged  upon  Backman's  battery,  and  came  near  capt 
uring  it ;  but  the  Ninth  Georgia  Regiment,  behind  a  stone  wall,  fired  a  vol 
ley  by  which  Farns worth  was  mortally  wounded  and  his  troops  repulsed 
with  much  loss.  It  was  cavalry  attacking  infantry,  with  the  ad  vantage  pret 
ty  much  on  the  side  of  the  Confederates. 

I  had  supposed  the  cavalry  engagement  ended  when  I  rode  back  from 
the  vicinity  of  Rummel's  farm  at  one  o'clock,  but  the  great  engagement 

between  Stuart  and  Gregg  did  not 
begin  till  near  the  close  of  the  can 
nonade  preceding  Pickett's  charge. 
Stuart  had  placed  himself  in  posi 
tion  to  make  the  rout  of  the  Union 
army  complete,  which  it  was  con 
fidently  believed  would  be  inaugu 
rated  by  the  assault  of  Hill's  and 
Pickett's  troops. 

It  was  two  o'clock  when  the  First 
New  Jersey  Regiment  advanced 
northward  across  a  level  field  tow 
ards  Mr.  Rummel's  house,  to  dis 
cover  if  any  Confederates  were  in 
that  direction,  when  out  from  Rum 
mers  barn  swarmed  a  strong  body 
of  dismounted  Confederates,  and 
the  carbines  began  to  rattle.  A 
Confederate  battery  came  galloping 
to  the  edge  of  the  woods  at  the  top 

of  the  hill  north  of  Rummel's  house,  sending  its  shells  across  the  field. 
Randol's  Union  battery  replied. 

There  was/  brave  fighting  between  men  of  the  North  and  men  of 
the  South,  Gregg  holding  his  chosen  ground  and  warding  off  every  effort 
of  Stuart.  Union  and  Confederate  alike  could  look  across  the  interven 
ing  woodlands  and  see  Cemetery  Hill,  Little  Round  Top,  and  the  connect 
ing  ridge  enveloped  in  smoke.  They  heard  the  rolls  of  musketry,  and 
then  the  dying  away  of  the  battle.  There  was  no  rout  of  troops — no  men 
in  blue  fleeing  panic-stricken  down  the  Baltimore  turnpike.  Possibly  it 
nerved  Stuart,  and  especially  Hampton,  to  do  something,  if  possible,  to 
retrieve  the  waning  fortune  of  the  hour,  for  the  charge  of  Hampton's 


CAVALRY  ENGAGEMENT — THIRD  DAY. 


CEMETERY  RIDGE.  279 

brigade  was  bold  and  furious ;  but  it  was  met  and  resisted.  The  sun  was 
going  down.  The  last  blow  had  been  struck,  the  Confederate  troops  fell 
back,  and  silence  settled  over  all  the  scene.  The  battle  of  Gettysburg  had 
been  fought  and  lost  by  General  Lee.  More  than  twenty  thousand  Con 
federates  had  been  killed,  wounded,  or  taken  as  prisoners.  The  Union 
army  had  lost  nearly  as  many. 

Although  the  troops  under  Pickett  had  reached  the  ridge  at  one  point, 
the  entire  Sixth  Corps  of  the  Union  army,  which  had  taken  no  part  in  the 
contest,  together  with  the  Third  and  Fifth  corps,  were  in  position  to  fall 
upon  them ;  and  the  supports  which  General  Lee  had  arranged,  even  if 
the  brigades  had  advanced  with  Pickett,  would  have  been  cut  to  pieces. 
Longstreet,  from  his  observation  during  the  second  day's  engagement,  had 
best  comprehended  the  situation,  and  correctly  judged  that  the  movement 
would  result  in  disaster. 

It  was  a  night  of  gloom  and  despondency  in  the  Confederate  army. 
During  the  three  days'  engagements  nearly  every  regiment  had  taken  part 
—the  losses  had  been  frightful.  The  Union  army,  which  had  been  re 
garded  with  contempt,  had  defeated  them.  The  confident  expectation  of 
victory  which  had  inspired  them  all  the  way  from  Fredericksburg  had 
suddenly  given  place  to  a  consciousness  that  the  great  battle  which  they 
had  counted  on  as  a  crowning  victory  had  resulted  in  defeat.  "  These 
considerations  made  it  to  us  one  of  those  solemn  and  awful  nights  that 
any  one  who  fought  through  our  long  war  sometimes  experienced  before 
a  great  battle,"  are  the  words  of  a  Confederate  general.(19)  The  soldiers 
of  both  armies  expected  that  with  the  rising  sun  the  conflict  would  be 
renewed. 

General  Lee  through  the  evening  was  turning  over  once  more,  as  he 
never  before  had  turned  it,  the  great  question  of  what  to  do.  Fight  an 
other  battle  ?  Impossible  ;  his  ammunition  was  nearly  gone.  He  must 
return  to  Virginia.  With  his  large  comprehension,  in  that  hour  of  gloom 
it  is  not  unlikely  he  saw  that  Gettysburg  was  the  beginning  of  the  end 
of  the  Confederacy.  He  was  in  consultation  with  A.  P.  Hill,  examining 
maps  by  the  flickering  light  of  a  candle.  At  one  o'clock  in  the  morning 
he  came  riding  slowly  to  his  own  tent. 

A  Confederate  officer,  who  had  been  directed  to  wait  for  him,  has  pict 
ured  the  scene  : 

"  There  was  not  even  a  sentinel  on  duty,  and  no  one  of  his  staff  was 
about.  The  moon  was  high  in  the  heavens,  shedding  a  flood  of  soft  silvery 
light,  almost  as  bright  as  day;  upon  the  scene.  When  he  approached  and 
saw  us,  he  spoke,  reined  in  his  horse,  and  essayed  to  dismount.  The  effort 


280  MARCHING   TO   VICTORY. 

to  do  so  betrayed  so  much  physical  exhaustion  that  I  stepped  forward  to 
assist  him,  but  before  I  reached  him  he  had  alighted.  He  threw  his  arm 
across  the  saddle  to  rest  himself,  and  fixing  his  eyes  upon  the  ground, 
leaned  in  silence  upon  his  equally  weary  horse.  The  moon  shone  fully 
upon  his  massive  features,  and  revealed  an  expression  of  sadness  I  had 
never  seen  upon  that  fine  countenance  before  in  any  of  the  vicissitudes 
of  the  war  through  which  he  had  passed.  .  .  . 

"  '  General,  this  has  been  a.  hard  day  on  you.' 

"  This  attracted  his  attention.     He  looked  up,  and  replied,  mournfully, 

"  '  Yes,  it  has  been  a  sad,  sad  day  to  us,'  and  immediately  relapsed  into 
his  thoughtful  mood  and  attitude.  After  a  minute  or  two  he  suddenly 
straightened  up  to  his  full  height,  and  turning  to  me  with  more  animation, 
energy,  and  excitement  of  manner  than  I  had  ever  seen  in  him  before, 
addressed  me  in  a  voice  tremulous  with  emotion,  and  said, 

" '  General,  I  never  saw  troops  behave  more  magnificently  than  Pickett's 
division  of  Virginians  did  to-day  in  their  grand  charge.  And  if  they  had 
been  supported,  as  they  were  to  have  been,  but  for  some  reason  not  yet 
fully  explained  to  me  they  were  not,  we  would  have  held  the  position 
they  so  gloriously  won  at  such  a  fearful  loss  of  noble  lives,  and  the  day 
would  have  been  ours.'  After  a  moment  he  added,  in  a  tone  almost  of 
agony, «  Too  bad  !  Too  bad  !  Too  BAD  !'  "(20) 

While  yet  the  Confederates  of  Pickett's  division  who  threw  down 
their  arms  were  rushing  into  the  Union  lines,  I  went  down  to  the  scene 
of  the  final  conflict.  Men  in  blue  and  men  in  gray,  who  had  fired  their 
muskets  into  one  another's  faces — so  near  that  the  powder  had  burned 
their  clothing — were  lying  under  the  muzzles  of  Casting's  guns.  The  field 
between  the  stone  wall  and  Codori's  was  very  thickly  strewn  with  prostrate 
forms — the  dead  of  the  second  day's  engagement,  together  with  those  that 
had  gone  down  in  the  strife  just  ended.  The  wounded  were  calling  for 
help,  and  already  the  hospital  corps  was  upon  the  field,  bringing  Union 
and  Confederate  alike  to  the  surgeons.  Measure  off  a  half  mile  in  width, 
from  Codori's  to  the  crest  of  the  ridge,  extend  the  line  south  one  mile  to 
Rose's  house  and  the  wheat-field,  and  you  have  a  plot  of  ground  on  which, 
during  the  second  and  third  day's  engagement,  more  than  fifteen  thousand 
men  were  killed  or  wounded.  Through  the  evening  I  surveyed  the  scene, 
walked  amid  the  dead,  beholding  their  faces  in  the  moonlight  —  forms 
motionless  evermore,  life  gone  out.  I  thought  of  desolate  homes  North 
and  South ;  of  wife,  mother,  sister,  or  aged  father,  who  would  listen  for 
footsteps  which  never  would  again  be  heard.  Why  such  carnage  of 
human  life?  Not  personal  hate;  not  obedience  to  autocrat  or  king,  but 


CEMETERY   RIDGE.  281 

the  conflict  between  liberty  and  slavery,  two  eternally  antagonistic,  irrec 
oncilable  forms  of  society.  Standing  there,  the  conviction  came  that  the 
slave  power  had  wielded  its  mightiest  blow ;  that  when  the  remnants  of 
Pickett's  brigades  drifted  back  across  Codori's  fields,  it  was  the  beginning 
of  the  ebb  tide  of  the  Confederacy. 

It  was  nearly  midnight  when  I  rode  up  to  General  Meade's  headquar 
ters,  in  a  grove  east  of  the  Taneytown  road.  General  Meade  was  sitting 
on  a  great  flat  bowlder,  listening  to  reports  brought  in  by  couriers.  It 
was  a  scene  which  lives  in  memory.  The  evening  breeze  was  gently  rus 
tling  the  green  leaves  over  our  heads,  the  katydids  were  singing  cheerily. 
Around  were  bivouac -fires,  where  soldiers  were  sitting,  talking  of  the 
events  of  the  day,  and  pointing  to  the  trees  shattered  by  cannon-shot. 
Corps  commanders  were  there,  Howard,  Sykes,  Sedgwick,  Pleasonton  of 
the  cavalry,  Hunt  of  the  artillery.  General  Meade  had  laid  aside  his 
slouched  felt  hat,  that  the  breeze  might  fan  his  brow. 

"  Order  up  rations  and  ammunition,"  he  said  to  his  chief  of  staff. 

"Let  your  limbers  and  caissons  be  refilled.  Lee  may  be  up  to  some 
thing  in  the  morning,  and  we  must  be  ready  for  him,"  his  words  to  Gen 
eral  Hunt. 

A  band  near  by  struck  up  "  Hail  to  the  Chief,"  "  Star  Spangled  Ban 
ner,"  and  "Yankee  Doodle."  The  soldiers  listened  and  responded  with  a 
cheer. 

The  morning  of  July  4th  dawned — anniversary  of  the  Declaration  of 
the  Independence  of  the  United  States — the  birth  of  the  nation.  From 
Cemetery  Hill  I  could  see  with  my  glass  the  white  canvas  tops  of  army 
wagons  and  ambulances  far  away  in  the  south-west  moving  towards  the 
mountains.  Were  the  Confederates  retreating,  or  was  it  only  the  removal 
of  the  wounded  ?  The  Confederate  pickets  were  still  along  the  fields 
west  of  the  Emmettsburg  road,  exchanging  shots  with  the  Union  videttes. 
The  day  passed  with  no  aggressive  movement  by  either  army.  Lee  was 
improving  the  time  sending  his  trains  southward.  Another  day,  and  he 
had  disappeared  and  was  making  his  way  to  the  Potomac.  The  Union 
army  could  not  follow  him  with  much  hope  of  success,  for  in  the  mount 
ain-passes  a  brigade  could  hold  a  division  at  bay.  General  Meade  lingered 
at  Gettysburg  when  he  should  have  been  on  the  march.  The  cavalry 
under  Kilpatrick  and  Gregg  crossed  the  mountains,  reached  Hagerstown 
and  Williamsport  in  advance  of  Stuart,  fell  upon  a  wagon-train,  captured 
several  hundred  prisoners,  and  burned  the  train.  The  pontoons  which  Lee 
had  left  at  Falling  Waters  had  been  destroyed  on  the  second  day  of  the 
battle  by  some  Union  cavalry  sent  by  General  French.  Rain  was  falling, 


282  MARCHING   TO   VICTORY. 

and  the  Potomac  rising.  Troops  were  hastening  from  all  quarters  to 
make  good  the  losses  of  the  battle.  The  Union  army  marched  cautiously. 
General  Meade  was  undecided  as  to  what  he  ought  to  do.  General  Lee 
reached  the  Potomac,  where  he  received  a  supply  of  ammunition.  His 
provisions  were  running  low.  He  threw  up  intrenchments,  collected  canal- 
boats,  tore  down  houses,  reconstructed  a  pontoon-bridge,  and  when  Meade, 
after  much  unaccountable  delay,  was  ready  to  attack,  the  Confederate 
army  was  once  more  in  Virginia,  with  the  exception  of  Pettigrew's  bri 
gade,  which  Kilpatrick  overtook  at  Falling  Waters,  the  cavalrymen  charg 
ing  up  a  hill,  with  two  cannon  hurling  canister  in  their  faces,  with  muskets 
flashing,  horses  and  men  going  down,  but  the  men  of  Michigan  in  the  sad 
dle  closed  around  the  Confederates,  cut  off  their  retreat,  and  captured 
nearly  nine  hundred  prisoners. 

The  invasion  of  the  North  was  over  ;  the  great  battle  which  was  to 
bring  about  the  independence  of  the  Confederacy,  its  recognition  as  a 
nation  by  France  and  England,  had  been  fought  and  lost. 


NOTES  TO  CHAPTER  XIII. 

( !)  General  Longstreet,  "Annals  of  the  War,"  p.  427. 

( 2)  Captain  Harwood,  "  Virginia  Fifty-third. " 

( 3)  Colonel  Alexander,  Century  Magazine,  January,  1887. 
(  4)  General  Hunt,  Century  Magazine,  January,  1887. 

(  5)  General  Longstreet,  "  Annals  of  the  War,"  p.  431. 

( 6)  Colonel  Alexander,  Century  Magazine,  January,  1887. 

( 7)  Captain  Owen,  "In  Camp  and  Battle,"  p.  253. 

(  8)  Colonel  Alexander,  Century  Magazine,  January,  1887. 

( 9)  General  Longstreet,  "  Annals  of  the  War,"  p.  430. 

(10)  Colonel  Alexander,  Century  Magazine,  January,  1887. 
(n)  General  Howard  and  Major  Osborn  to  author. 

(12)  Captain  Harwood,  "Virginia  Fifty-third." 

(13)  Captain  Owen,  "In  Camp  and  Battle,"  p.  251. 

(14)  Captain  Harwood,  "Virginia  Fifty-third." 

(15)  General  Stannard  to  author. 
(")  Hancock's  account. 

(17)  General  Longstreet,  "Annals  of  the  War,"  p.  431, 

(18)  Blackwood's  Magazine,  September,  1863. 

V")  General  Imboden,  Galaxy  Magazine,  April,  1871. 
(*   Idem. 


THE   OLD   FLAG  ON  THE  MISSISSIPPI. 


283 


CHAPTER  XIY. 

THE   OLD   FLAG   OX   THE   MISSISSIPPI. 

NEYEE  had  there  been  such  a  night  in  Vicksburg  as  that  of  Sunday, 
May  17th,  when  the  Confederate  troops,  commanded  by  Pemberton, 
came  into  the  city  after  their  defeat  at  Champion  Hills  and  Big  Black 
River.     A  woman  who  was  in  the  city  through  the  siege  that  followed 
wrote  this  in  her  diary  : 

11  May  Vlih. — Hardly  was  our  scanty  breakfast  over  this  morning  when 
a  hurried  ring  brought  us  to  the  door,  and  there  stood  -     -  in  high  excite- 


; 


PEMBERTON  8   HEADQUARTERS,   VICKSBURG. 

ment.  *  Well,  they  are  upon  us  ;  the  Yankees  will  be  here  this  evening.' 
'  What  do  you  mean  ?'  '  That  Pemberton  has  been  whipped  at  Baker's 
Creek  and  Big  Black,  and  his  army  is  running  back  here  as -fast  as  they 
can  come,  and  the  Yanks  are  after  them  in  such  numbers  that  nothing  can 
stop  them.  Hasn't  Pemberton  acted  like  a  fool?'  'He  may  not  be  the 
only  one  to  blame.'  '  I  hear  you  can't  see  the  armies  for  the  dust ;  never 
was  anything  known  like  it.'  About  three  o'clock  the  rush  began.  I 


284:  MARCHING  TO   VICTORY. 

shall  never  forget  that  woful  sight  of  a  beaten,  demoralized  army  that 
came  rushing  back — humanity  in  the  last  throes  of  endurance.  Wan, 
hollow-eyed,  ragged,  foot-sore,  bloody,  the  men  limped  along,  unarmed,  but 
followed  by  siege-guns,  ambulances,  gun-carriages,  and  wagons  in  aimless 
confusion."Q 

"  Many  of  the  troops,"  says  a  Confederate  writer  in  Yicksburg,  "  de 
clared  their  willingness  to  desert  rather  than  serve  under  him  [Pember- 
ton]  again.  The  stillness  of  the  Sabbath  night  was  broken  in  upon,  and 
an  uproar  in  which  the  blasphemous  oaths  of  the  soldier  and  the  cry  of 
the  child  mingled  formed  a  scene  which  the  pen  cannot  depict,  and  which 
can  never  be  forgotten.  There  were  many  gentlewomen  and  tender  chil 
dren  torn  from  their  homes  by  the  advance  of  a  ruthless  foe,  and  com 
pelled  to  fly  to  our  lines  for  protection ;  and  mixed  up  with  them  in  one 
vast  crowd  were  the  gallant  men  who  had  left  Yicksburg  three  short 
weeks  before, in  all  the  pride  and  confidence  of  a  just  cause,  and  returning 
to  it  a  demoralized  mob  and  a  defeated  army,  all  caused  by  one  man's  in- 
competency."(2) 

Through  the  night  the  Confederate  troops  marched  in,  weary  and  dis 
heartened,  but  the  officers  rallied  and  reorganized  them ;  stragglers  returned 
to  their  regiments,  and  by  Monday  afternoon  they  were  in  position  behind 
the  breastworks,  working  with  picks,  spades,  and  axes.  The  regiments 
which  had  been  stationed  at  Snyder's  Bluff  and  Chickasaw  Bayou  has 
tened  to  the  city,  abandoning  fourteen  cannon  and  a  large  amount  of 
stores  which  could  not  be  removed. 

During  the  two  weeks  that  had  passed  since  Pemberton  marched  out 
from  Yicksburg  he  had  lost  Loring's  division,  eight  thousand  seven  hun 
dred,  besides  eight  thousand  killed  and  wounded  or  taken  prisoners.  All 
told,  he  had  lost  over  sixteen  thousand.  He  had  still  nearly  thirty-three 
thousand  men,  but  fully  ten  thousand  were  too  demoralized  to  be  of  much 
service. 

On  the  morning  of  the  17th  a  courier  from  Pemberton  made  his  way 
to  Gen.  Joseph  E.  Johnston,  who  was  thirty  miles  north-east  of  Yicks 
burg,  carrying  a  letter  giving  information  of  the  defeat  of  the  Confeder 
ates  at  Champion  Hills  and  Big  Black  Kiver.  This  was  Johnston's  reply : 

"If  you  are  invested  in  Yicksburg  you  must  ultimately  surrender. 
Under  such  •circumstances,  instead  of  losing  both  troops  and  place,  we 
must,  if  possible,  save  the  troops.  If  it  is  not  too  late,  evacuate  Yicks 
burg  and  its  dependencies,  and  march  to  the  north-east." 

The  courier  hastened  back  with  the  letter,  delivering  it  to  General 
Pemberton  Monday  noon,  who  was  astonished  at  such  an  order.  "Give 


THE   OLD   FLAG  ON  THE   MISSISSIPPI.  285 

up  Vicksburg !  Never !"  he  said.  "  The  evacuation  of  Vicksburg !  It 
meant  the  loss  of  the  valuable  stores  and  munitions  of  war  collected  for 
its  defence,  the  fall  of  Port  Hudson,  the  surrender  of  the  Mississippi 
Kiver,  and  the  severance  of  the  Confederacy.  These  were  mighty  in 
terests  which,  had  I  deemed  the  evacuation  practicable  in  the  sense  in 
which  I  interpreted  General  Johnston's  instructions,  might  well  make  me 
hesitate  to  execute  them." 

He  called  his  generals  together  for  consultation.  What  should  be  done 
was  the  momentous  question.  It  was  impossible  to  withdraw  the  army  from 
that  position  with  such  morale  and  material  as  to  be  of  further  service  to 
the  Confederacy,  they  said.  It  was  too  late  to  withdraw.  While  the  gen 
erals  were  discussing  the  question  the  deep  booming  of  the  cannonade  fell 
upon  their  ears.  Sherman,  holding  the  right  wing  of  Grant's  army,  was 
closing  the  roads  leading  north-east,  and  his  troops  were  pushing  on  tow 
ards  Haines's  Bluff,  on  the  Yazoo. 

"  I  intend  to  hold  Vicksburg  to  the  last.  I  conceive  it  to  be  the  most 
important  point  in  the  Confederacy,"  was  the  reply  which  Pemberton  sent 
to  Johnston. 

Yicksburg  was  important  to  the  Confederate  Government,  because  if 
it  were  surrendered  the  States  west  of  the  Mississippi  would  be  severed 
from  those  east  of  it.  It  was  important  also  because  from  the  western 
bank  of  the  river  a  railroad  extended  west  into  Arkansas.  Grant's  move 
ment  had  cut  off  all  communication  westward,  but  it  might  be  reopened  if 
the  Union  army  could  be  repulsed.  For  the  cause  of  the  Union  it  was 
important  that  Yicksburg  should  be  taken,  because  the  Mississippi  was 
Nature's  great  highway  to  the  sea.  At  the  beginning  of  the  war,  John  A. 
Logan,  of  Illinois,  had  voiced  the  sentiment  of  the  people  of  that  section. 
"  The  men  of  the  North-west  will  hew  their  way  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico," 
and  he  was  there,  with  the  thousands  composing  the  army,  to  carry  out 
that  resolution. 

Beginning  north  of  the  city,  WB  see  the  Confederate  brigades  of 
Shoup,  Baldwin,  Vaughn,  and  Bnford ;  then  General  Forney's  division — 
Moore's  and  Hebert's  brigades  ;  then  Stevenson's  division — Barton's,  Cum- 
mings's,  Lee's,  and  Keynolds's  brigades,  the  last  on  the  right  of  Pember- 
ton's  line  below  the  city.  Bo  wen's  division — Green's  and  Cochran's  bri 
gades  —  in  reserve.  The  cavalry,  under  General  Waul,  was  dismounted 
and  attached  to  Stevenson's  division. 

There  were  one  hundred  and  twenty-eight  cannon  behind  the  intrench- 
ments,  placed  in  position  to  sweep  every  approach ;  thirty-six  heavy  siege- 
guns,  besides  forty-four  in  the  batteries  along  the  river. 


286 


MARCHING  TO   VICTORY. 


Eighteen  days  only  had  passed  since  the  Union  army  crossed  the  Mis 
sissippi  at  Grand  Gulf.  During  the  time,  the  troops  had  marched  two 
hundred  miles,  defeated  the  Confederates  at  Port  Gibson,  Raymond,  Jack 
son,  Champion  Hills,  and  Big  Black,  capturing  eighty-eight  cannon,  in 
flicting  great  losses  upon  Pemberton.  They  had  only  five  days'  rations, 
but  had  picked  up  what  food  they  could  find  in  the  country.  It  was  a 
great  risk  which  General  Grant  took  to  cut  himself  loose  from  all  sup 
plies.  But  he  had  faith  in  his  men,  and,  best  of  all,  faith  in  himself. 


MAP   OF   THE    SIEGE   OF   VICKSBURG. 


With  what  energy  he  pushed  on  !  The  battle  of  Big  Black  was  fought 
on  Sunday  morning.  It  was  over  by  nine  o'clock,  the  Confederate  troops 
fleeing  west  to  Yicksburg,  twelve  miles. 

General  Grant  had  only  one  pontoon  train,  and  Sherman  was  using  it. 
He  reached  the  Big  Black  at  two  o'clock  Tuesday  afternoon,  and  at  sun 
set  was  ready  to  cross. 

General  McPherson  set  his  soldiers  to  tearing  down  a  cotton-gin  and 


THE  OLD  FLAG  ON  THE  MISSISSIPPI.  289 

felling  trees.  Through  the  afternoon  there  was  a  clattering  of  axes,  men 
lifting  timber,  building  cribs  in  the  river,  filling  them  with  bales  of  cotton, 
laying  stringers  with  plank  upon  them,  building  two  bridges  before  mid 
night. 

On  the  morning  of  the  18th  Sherman  was  across  the  Big  Black,  push 
ing  north-west  to  hold  the  right  of  the  line  and  opening  communication 
with  the  fleet ;  McPherson  was  across,  and  pushing  due  west ;  McClernand 
was  swinging  south-west — all  closing  in  upon  Pemberton. 

General  Grant  knew  nothing  of  the  country,  only  that  the  Big  Bayou, 
rising  in  the  hills  north-east  of  Yicksburg,  ran  south,  and  emptied  into 
the  Mississippi  below  the  city ;  that  the  country  was  much  broken ;  that 
there  were  ravines,  hills,  gullies,  forests,  thickets ;  that  the  Confederates 
had  lines  of  earthworks,  forts,  and  batteries,  making  a  large  intrenched 
camp ;  that  there  were  several  roads — one  running  out  of  the  city  south 
west,  parallel  with  the  river;  another  south  to  Hall's  Ferry;  one  east  to 
Baldwin's  Ferry,  parallel  with  the  railroad ;  another  north-east,  called  the 
Jackson  road,  and  two  others  between  the  Jackson  road  and  the  Missis 
sippi.  He  saw  at  a  glance  that  the  ground  was  higher  north-east  of  the 
city  than  anywhere  else.  The  ravines  were  deep,  the  banks  sharp  and 
steep,  the  woods  thick  with  underbrush.  He  did  not  think  that  General 
Pemberton  could  have  more  than  fifteen  thousand  men.  He  thought  that 
the  Confederates  must  be  demoralized  by  their  defeats,  while  his  own 
troops  were  flushed  with  their  victories,  and  were  eager  to  finish  Pember 
ton.  He  had  about  thirty-five  thousand  men. 

The  three  corps  were  to  push  on  at  two  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  of 
May  19th.  General  Sherman's  troops  were  nearest  the  Confederate 
works.  He  was  ready  at  the  appointed  hour.  Blair's  division  led  the 
attack. 

The  troops  come  to  a  deep  ravine,  through  which  trickles  a  small 
stream  westward  to  the  Mississippi.  The  banks  are  sharp  and  high. 
Upon  the  south  side  of  a  ravine,  at  the  top  of  a  slope,  were  the  Confed 
erate  breastworks,  with  abatis  in  front  of  them.  The  Confederates  de 
fending  them  had  not  been  out  of  Vicksburg,  and  were  not  demoralized 
by  defeat. 

The  Union  soldiers  crossed  the  ravine,  but  become  entangled  in  the 
abatis.  The  Regulars,  under  Captain  Washington,  cleared  the  obstructions 
and  rushed  upon  the  intrenchments.  A  pitiless  storm  beat  in  their  faces. 
They  reached  the  parapet.  Captain  Washington  waved  the  flag  as  a  signal 
for  his  soldiers  to  scale  the  parapet,  but  the  next  moment  he  fell  mortally 
wounded,  and  the  Confederates  captured  the  flag.  Other  Union  troops 
19 


290  MARCHING   TO   VICTORY. 

rushed  forward,  but  not  enough  to  break  the  Confederate  line.  The  troops 
remained  in  the  woods  till  evening,  and  then  fell  back  across  the  ravine. 

In  the  centre  there  were  so  many  obstacles  that  McPherson  could  not 
get  his  men  in  position  till  nightfall,  neither  could  McClernand.  The  at 
tack  had  failed,  and  Grant  had  lost  four  hundred  men.  The  Confederates 
were  encouraged,  and  made  their  intrenchrnents  still  stronger. 

The  Union  army  had  been  put  on  short  rations,  and  the  supplies  were 
nearly  exhausted.  The  troops  had  gathered  what  food  they  could  find, 
but  that  too  was  almost  gone.  On  the  morning  of  the  21st  General 
Grant  was  riding  along  the  lines,  when  a  soldier,  seeing  him,  said,  in  a  low 
voice,  "  Hard  tack  /"  Kegiments  took  it  up,  and  the  cry  rang  along  the 
lines,  "Hard  tack!  Hcwd  tack r^ 

"  You  shall  have  all  the  food  you  want  in  a  short  time,  for  ever  since 
our  arrival  men  have  been  building  a  road  to  the  river  that  the  wagons 
may  bring  up  supplies." 

No  more  grumbling,  but  lusty  cheers  instead. 

All  day  and  through  the  night  the  wagons  were  winding  along  the 
roads  from  the  steamboats  on  the  Yazoo  to  the  different  brigades.  The 
ammunition  brought  from  Grand  Gulf  had  been  exhausted,  and  during 
May  20th  and  21st  the  troops  rested  beneath  the  shade  of  the  forest-trees. 

There  was  little  firing  on  the  part  of  the  Confederates.  '  General  Pem- 
berton  was  sparing  of  his  ammunition.  His  great  want  was  percussion- 
caps.  The  Union  fleets  were  sending  bombs  into  the  city,  dismounting 
guns,  exploding  in  the  streets,  doing  great  damage.  The  people  dug 
caves  in  the  hill-sides — men,  women,  and  children  there  finding  shelter. 
Pemberton  had  no  longer  any  use  for  his  cavalry  horses,  or  for  the  mules 
of  his  supply  train.  He  had  no  hay  or  grain  to  spare,  and  so  turned  them 
loose  outside  the  intrenchments.  Some  of  them  came  into  the  Union 
lines,  but  the  worthless  were  shot  down  by  the  Union  soldiers,  and  the  air 
became  tainted  and  unwholesome. 

We  come  to  the  morning  of  the  22d.  The  Union  engineers  have  rec 
onnoitred  the  ground,  planted  batteries,  and  selected  the  points  for  attack. 
The  crews  of  the  mortar-fleet  have  placed  six  mortars  in  position  to  rain 
thirteen-inch  shells  upon  the  Confederates.  Through  the  night  they  send 
their  terrible  missiles  upon  the  doomed  city.  At  seven  o'clock  Admiral 
Porter  comes  up  with  his  fleet — the  Benton,  Mound  City,  Carondelet,  and 
Tuscumbia — and  opens  fire.  The  Union  field  artillery  begin  at  daylight 
a  terrific  cannonade.  For  four  hours  the  uproar  goes  on,  the  Confederates 
replying  briskly  at  first,  but  their  fire  gradually  slackens. 

TV*  o'clock.  —  The  hour  has  come  for  a  combined  attack.     General 


THE   OLD   FLAG   ON  THE   MISSISSIPPI. 


291 


Sherman  has  placed  Blair's  division  to  attack  along  the  road  leading  past 
the  cemetery.  General  Tattle's  division  is  to  support  Blair's,  while 
Steele's  division  is  to  advance  nearer  the  Mississippi.  There  is  a  ditch 
to  be  crossed,  which  must  first  be  bridged.  Who  will  build  the  bridge 
under  the  storm  that  will  be  rained  upon  the  builders  ?  One  hundred  and 
fifty  men  spring  from  the  ranks  ready  to  do  it,  though  they  know  that  it 
will  be  almost  certain  death.  Swing's  brigade  stands  ready  behind  the 
volunteer  bridge-builders. 


HUTS   ON   THE   HILL-SIDE. 

The  hands  of  the  watches,  which  have  all  been  regulated,  sweep  on  to 
ten  o'clock.  Not  a  Confederate  is  to  be  seen  behind  the  intrenchments. 
The  soldiers  of  the  Confederacy  are  silent,  motionless,  biding  their  time. 
The  Union  troops — Ewing's,  Giles  Smith's,  and  Kirby  Smith's  brigades — 
are  sheltered  in  the  ravine  six  hundred  feet  distant  from  the  breastworks. 
Twenty -four  Union  cannon  are  planted  to  pour  a  concentrated  fire  upon 
the  fort  which  is  to  be  assaulted.  Up  from  their  shelter  spring  the  one 
hundred  and  fifty  volunteers,  rushing  up  the  narrow  road  with  poles  and 
boards.  Ewing's  men  are  behind  them.  Suddenly  the  fort  is  ablaze. 
General  Hebert's  Confederates  are  upon  their  feet  delivering  a  terrific 
volley  upon  the  volunteers,  who  fall  headlong  to  the  earth.  Ewing's  men 
press  on.  They  reach  the  ditch,  cross  it.  climb  the  parapet,  plant  their 


292  MARCHING  TO  VICTORY. 

flag  upon  the  upheaved  embankment.  The  man  who  plants  it  falls.  His 
comrades  go  down.  The  ground  is  thickly  strewn  with  men  in  blue. 
Ewing  is  rolled  back,  but  his  men  leave  the  flag  still  waving  where  they 
planted  it.  Confederate  after  Confederate  attempts  to  seize  it,  but  is 
shot  down  by  the  Union  men  sheltered  in  the  thicket.  Through  the 
day  it  floats  in  the  summer  breeze,  riddled  by  bullets  of  friend  and  foe. 
Through  the  day  Swing's  men  lie  in  the  woods  within  a  stone's  -  throw 
of  it. 

Going  south  along  the  Union  lines,  we  come  to  McPherson's  corps ; 
Ransom's  brigade  of  McArthur's  division  holding  the  right  south  of  the 
cemetery  road,  Logan's  division  in  the  centre,  and  Quiinby's  on  the  left, 
between  the  Jackson  and  Baldwin  roads. 

Logan's  division  leads  the  attack.  J.  E.  Smith's  brigade  is  along  the 
road  ;  Stevenson's  south  of  it.  Both  are  to  attack  the  strong  fort  which 
stands  north  of  the  road.  So  terrible  the  fire  that  bursts  upon  Smith  that 
his  men  recoil ;  but  Stevenson's  men  rush  on,  the  Seventh  Missouri  plant 
ing  its  colors  on  the  parapet  of  the  -fort.  The  bearer  falls.  A  second  sol 
dier  seizes  them.  He,  too,  falls  ;  the  third,  fourth,  fifth,  sixth  all  go  down 
in  as  many  minutes,  their  life-blood  staining  the  yellow  earth.  In  vain  the 
effort,  and  the  brigade,  to  save  itself  from  utter  annihilation,  falls  back  to 
the  shelter  of  the  ravine. 

In  McClernand's  corps  Benton's  and  Lawler's  brigades  are  selected  to 
lead  the  attack.  Burbridge's  brigade  is  in  support  of  Benton,  and  Lan- 
dram's  behind  Lawler.  The  fort  which  they  are  to  attack  is  on  a  hill  a 
few  rods  south  of  the  railroad.  The  Twenty-first  and  Twenty-second  Iowa 
charge  up  the  hill.  They  reach  the  ditch  outside  the  fort.  Sergeant  Jo 
seph  Griffith,  with  a  squad  of  men,  clears  the  ditch,  scales  the  parapet, 
leaps  into  the  fort ;  but  nearly  all  except  the  sergeant  are  killed.  The  Con 
federates  flee  to  a  second  embankment  three  hundred  feet  in  rear  of  the 
first.  The  Twenty-second  Iowa  takes  possession,  plants  its  colors  upon 
the  parapet ;  but  the  men  are  obliged  to  shelter  themselves  from  the  fire 
rained  upon  them  from  the  second  intrenchment.  Landram's  men  join 
them,  and  the  Seventy -seventh  Illinois  also  plants  its  colors  upon  the  par 
apet.  Through  the  day  the  Union  men  hold  the  outside  of  a  portion  of 
the  intrenchment,  the  Confederates  the  inside.  Equally  brave  are  Ben- 
ton's  and  Burbridge's  men — reaching  the  ditch,  holding  the  outside. 

Half -past  ten. — The  three  divisions  have  attacked  at  the  same  moment ; 
each  has  reached  the  parapet. 

General  Grant  had  seen  the  attacks.  From  his  position,  just  behind 
Blair's  division,  he  could  look  down  the  line  and  see  the  brigades  one  after 


THE   OLD  FLAG  ON  THE   MISSISSIPPI.  293 

another  rush  up  the  steep  slope.  He  could  see  the  struggle  to  gain  pos 
session  of  the  forts,  the  flags  waving  upon  the  parapets,  the  brave  men  in 
blue  lying  upon  the  ground,  their  life-work  ended.  He  saw  that  the  at 
tacks  had  failed.  It  was  half-past  eleven  when  he  received  a  message  from 
McClernand,  who  said  that  he  was  hotly  engaged ;  that  the  enemy  was 
massing  on  his  right  and  left ;  that  if  McPherson  would  strike  a  vigorous 
blow  it  would  aid  him.  A  little  later  came  another  message : 

"  We  are  hotly  engaged  with  the  enemy.  We  have  possession  of  two 
forts,  and  the  Stars  and  Stripes  are  floating  over  them.  A  vigorous  push 
ought  to  be  made  all  along  the  line." 

A  third  message  from  McClernand — one  o'clock : 

"  We  have  gained  the  enemy's  intrenchments  at  several  points,  but  are 
brought  to  a  stand.  I  have  sent  word  to  McArthur  to  reinforce  me  if  he 
can.  Would  it  not  be  best  to  concentrate  the  whole  or  a  part  of  his  com 
mand  at  this  point?  My  troops  are  all  engaged,  and  I  cannot  withdraw 
any  to  reinforce  them." 

A  commander  in  battle  must  act  upon  information  from  his  subordi 
nates.  He  can  see  personally  very  little  of  what  is  going  on.  To  Grant's 
own  mind,  judging  from  what  he  could  see,  the  attack  had  failed ;  but 
McClernand,  according  to  the  despatches,  was  in  possession  of  the  Confed 
erate  works.  If  so,  would  not  a  vigorous  attack  by  Sherman  and  McPher 
son  complete  the  victory  ?  He  shows  the  despatches  to  those  officers,  and 
directs  them  to  renew  the  assault. 

We  see  Quimby's  division  hastening  to  support  McClernand ;  Tuttle's 
division  moves  up  to  support  Blair ;  Giles  Smith's  and  Ransom's  brigades 
unite  to  rush  upon  the  intrenchments  between  the  cemetery  and  the  little 
stream  west  of  it ;  Steele's  division  works  its  way  amid  the  ravines  and 
knolls  farther  west ;  Logan's  division,  on  the  Jackson  road,  rushes  once 
more  upon  the  intrenchments. 

Again  the  cannon  are  thundering,  muskets  flashing,  solid  shot  plough 
ing  up  the  mellow  earth,  hurling  clouds  of  dust  into  the  air ;  shells  burst 
ing  ;  Union  soldiers  falling  thick  and  fast ;  the  lines  halting,  wavering, 
rolled  back  at  last,  leaving  the  ground  thickly  strewn  with  dead  and 
dying. 

The  battle  ends,  with  nothing  gained  on  the  part  of  Grant.  Of  the 
thirty-five  thousand  troops,  nearly  thirty  thousand  have  been  engaged,  and 
more  than  four  thousand  have  been  killed  or  wounded. 

Had  it  not  been  for  the  misleading  despatches  from  McClernand,  the 
assault  in  the  afternoon  would  not  have  been  ordered.  The  Confederates, 
sheltered  by  their  breastworks,  suffered  little  loss  comparatively.  No  one 


294  MARCHING  TO   VICTORY. 

will  ever  know  how  many  were  killed  or  disabled  on  that  afternoon,  but 
Pemberton's  loss  was  probably  not  more  than  five  or  six  hundred. 

Night  comes,  and  the  Union  troops,  weary,  exhausted,  broken-down  by 
constant  marching  and  scant  supply  of  food,  are  withdrawn.  The  attempt 
to  capture  Yicksburg  by  direct  attack  had  failed.  The  Union  troops  had 
suffered  heavy  loss.  They  had  received  their  first  check,  and  were  in  a 
measure  discouraged.  The  Confederate  troops  had  suffered  little,  and  were 
greatly  elated.  Their  enthusiasm  was  kept  alive  by  the  hope  and  confi 
dent  expectation  that  General  Johnston  would  soon  be  falling  upon  Grant 
with  a  great  army.  They  did  not  take  into  account  the  fact  that  the  re 
sources  of  the  Confederacy  were  failing;  that  men  were  not  to  be  had  to 
repair  locomotives,  build  cars,  relay  tracks,  restore  destroyed  material. 

There  was  one  way  by  which  Yicksburg  might  possibly  have  been 
saved  to  the  Confederacy :  the  quick  transportation  of  the  army  under 
General  Bragg,  near  Chattanooga,  to  the  rear  of  Yicksburg;  attacking 
Grant  before  reinforcements  could  reach  him.  It  was  not  done.  There 
were  divided  councils  at  Richmond.  Jefferson  Davis  had  a  personal  quar 
rel  with  General  Johnston,  and  paid  little  heed  to  his  requests,  while  Gen 
eral  Johnston  was  lacking  in  essential  qualities  needful  in  a  great  emer 
gency  ;  and  before  he  could  collect  an  army  from  scattered  remnants  of 
troops  the  great  opportunity  for  recovering  what  had  been  lost  went  by, 
never  to  return. 

When  the  sun  went  down  on  the  night  of  May  22, 1863,  General  Grant 
saw  that  it  would  not  be  possible  for  him  to  break  Pemberton's  lines  by 
any  direct  attack.  To  capture  Yicksburg  he  must  begin  a  siege.  To  carry 
out  the  siege  successfully,  he  must  have  more  troops.  He  had  not  enough 
to  cover  more  than  half  the  distance  around  the  city.  Besides,  he  knew 
that  General  Johnston  was  out  north-east  of  him  with  the  remnants  of  the 
force  which  had  been  defeated  at  Jackson.  lie  reasoned  that  Johnston 
would  summon  troops  from  every  quarter  to  attack  him  and  compel  him 
to  abandon  the  siege.  Before  daylight  General  Grant  had  planned  a  new 
campaign.  Osterhaus's  division  in  the  morning  was  on  its  way  east  to 
guard  the  bridge  across  the  Big  Black  Eiver.  Following  these  troops,  six 
brigades — three  from  the  Fifteenth  Corps,  three  from  the  Seventeenth  Corps 
—  marched  north-east  under  General  Blair  to  Mechanicsburg  to  drive  off  any 
Confederate  troops  gathering  in  that  direction.  The  gunboats  steamed  up 
to  Yazoo  City,  destroying  all  the  Confederate  steamboats. 

"  Send  me  all  the  troops  possible,"  was  Grant's  order  to  Hurlbut  at 
Memphis.  Lauman's  division  was  already  on  its  way  down  the  west  bank 
of  the  Mississippi. 


THE   OLD   FLAG   ON  THE  MISSISSIPPI.  297 

The  steamboats  below  the  city  ferried  the  six  thousand  men  in  the  divis 
ion  to  the  eastern  shore,  and  Lauman  took  position  between  McClernand 
and  the  river. 

"  I  need  more  troops,"  was  the  telegram  to  Halleck  in  Washington. 

"  Send  Grant  all  available  troops,"  was  Halleck's  message  to  Schofield, 
commanding  at  St.  Louis  ;  to  Burnside  in  Cincinnati,  commanding  the 
Ninth  Corps.  Schofield  sent  General  Herron's  division  ;  Burnside,  Gen 
eral  Parke's  division,  the  troops  steaming  down  the  river.  A  new  division 
arrived  under  General  Kimball.  General  Rosecrans  said  that  he  was 
about  executing  a  movement,  and  could  not  spare  any  troops.  Herron 
arrived  June  8th,  joined  Laurnan,  and  closed  the  last  gap  in  the  line. 

A  division  of  the  Sixteenth  Corps,  under  Gen.  W.  S.  Smith,  arrived 
June  llth,  was  united  with  Kimball's  division,  and  placed,  under  the  com 
mand  of  General  Washburne,  north-east  of  the  city.  Parke's  division  came 
on  June  14th,  landing  at  Howe's  Bluff,  swelling  Grant's  army  to  seventy- 
one  thousand  men,  with  two  hundred  and  forty-eight  cannon. 

We  are  to  remember  that  there  were  two  Confederate  armies — one  of 
twenty-one  thousand  effective  men  hemmed  up  in  Yicksburg,  and  a  large 
and  constantly  increasing  force  under  Johnston  gathering  at  Canton,  north 
east  of  Grant's  army.  Johnston  reached  Canton  May  2d.  The  next  day 
Gist's  brigade  arrived  from  South  Carolina,  Ector's  and  McNair's  from 
Chattanooga,  and  Loring's  from  Jackson.  Before  June  3d,  Evans's  brigade 
arrived  from  South  Carolina,  Breckinridge's  division  from  Chattanooga, 
and  a  division  of  cavalry  under  Jackson — in  all,  thirty-six  thousand  men. 
Johnston  had  men,  but  he  lacked  wagon -trains  and  supplies  of  all  kinds. 
The  Federal  cavalry  under  Grierson  had  burned  railroad  bridges  and  com 
mitted  great  havoc. 

Johnston  found  it  exceedingly  difficult  to  organize  his  army  sufficiently 
to  take  the  field.  He  was  harassed  by  orders  from  Richmond  to  attack 
Grant,  no  matter  what  the  risk  might  be.  But  Richmond  was  far  away, 
and  Jefferson  Davis  and  the  Secretary  of  War  had  slight  knowledge  of 
the  difficulties  besetting  him. 

"  I  consider  the  saving  of  Yicksburg  hopeless,"  was  Johnston's  tele 
gram  on  June  15th. 

"  Yicksburg  must  not  be  lost  without  a  desperate  struggle,"  was  the 
answer  from  Richmond. 

"  Grant  is  covered  by  the  Big  Black,"  said  Johnston. 

"  Grant  must  be  attacked  if  possible,"  was  once  more  the  message  from 
Richmond. 

If  Johnston  could  not  attack  Grant,  he  might  hasten  south  and  attack 


298  MARCHING   TO  VICTORY. 

Banks,  who  was  laying  siege  to  Port  Hudson.  A  courier  made  his  way 
through  Grant's  lines  to  Pemberton  with  Johnston's  plan,  which  was  to 
attack  Grant,  while  Pemberton  was  to  improve  the  opportunity  to  cut  his 
way  out. 

The  courier  returned  with  Pemberton's  answer.  Johnston  was  to 
attack  Grant  north  of  the  railroad,  while  Pemberton  would  cut  his  way 
out  south  of  it. 

We  are  not  to  think  that  the  Union  troops  were  lying  still,  taking  their 
ease  during  those  bright  days.  On  the  contrary,  no  beavers  ever  worked 
so  steadily,  day  and  night,  as  they- — building  intrenchments,  throwing  up 
fortifications,  making  gabions,  or  great  baskets  of  willows  and  grape-vines, 
filling  them  with  earth,  and  digging  what  the  engineers  call  saps  and  par 
allels.  A  sap  is  a  trench,  or  gallery,  made  with  the  intention  of  under 
mining  a  fort.  The  soldiers  constructed  sap-rollers  by  filling  barrels  with 
earth. 

As  soon  as  the  sun  disappeared  and  the  twilight  faded  from  the  sky, 
men  with  shovels,  lying  on  the  ground,  began  rolling  the  barrels  towards 
the  Confederate  forts.  When  they  got  as  near  as  they  dared,  they  began 
to  dig  a  trench.  The  barrel  sheltered  them  from  the  sharp-shooters.  Be 
fore  morning  they  would  have  a  trench  in  which  they  could  lie  through 
the  day,  to  begin  digging  again  at  night.  They  cut  notches  in  logs  and 
laid  the  logs  on  the  top  of  the  earth  thrown  up,  with  the  notches  turned 
down.  Through  the  day  the  sharp-shooters  stood  with  their  rifles  pointing 
towards  the  forts,  peeping  through  the  notches  to  catch  sight  of  a  Con 
federate  head.  Some  of  the  soldiers,  instead  of  using  the  barrels,  would 
spring  out  with  their  shovels,  make  the  earth  fly  lively,  and  in  five  minutes 
have  a  trench  deep  enough  for  shelter  before  the  Confederates  were 
aware  of  what  was  going  on. 

Every  night  the  Union  works  were  brought  nearer  to  the  Confeder 
ates,  who  would  open  their  eyes  in  amazement  in  the  morning  to  see  a 
new  earthwork,  with  cannon  peeping  through  the  embrasures,  not  three 
hundred  feet  distant.  As  soon  as  it  was  dark  each  army  threw  out  its 
pickets ;  the  soldiers  lay  upon  the  ground  so  near  to  one  another  that  they 
co old  carry  on  conversation. 

"  We  won't  fire  if  you  won't,"  shouted  a  Confederate. 

"  Agreed." 

Provisions  were  getting  scarce  in  Vicksburg. 

"  How  do  you  like  mule-steak  ?"  was  the  banter  of  the  Union  soldier. 

They  talked  of  the  war,  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  Jeff  Davis,  the  Emanci 
pation  Proclamation,  exchanged  newspapers,  traded  coffee  and  tobacco. 


THE   OLD    FLAU   ON   THE   MISSISSIPPI. 


299 


SHARP-SHOOTERS. 


Officers  met  old  acquaintances  and  shook  hands  in  the  darkness ;  but  when 
morning  dawned  the  Union  pickets  returned  to  the  trenches,  the  Confed 
erates  to  the  forts. 

The  gunboats  and  mortar-rafts  opened  fire  at  ten  o'clock,  Wednesday, 
May  27th.  While  those  belowr  the  city  sent  their  shells  up -stream, 
the  Cincinnati,  which  was  above  the  city,  came  round  the  bend  of  the 
river,  ran  out  her  guns,  and  delivered  a  terrific  fire  upon  the  batteries 


300  MARCHING   TO   VICTORY. 

at  the  foot  of  the  hill.  At  the  top  of  the  bluff  was  an  eight-inch  rifled 
cannon  which  the  Confederate  soldiers  named  Whistling  Dick.  They 
could  always  tell  when  Dick  was  at  work  from  the  shrill  whistle  of  its 
shell.  It  was  so  high  above  the  Cincinnati  that  it  could  send  a  plunging 
shot  down  upon  its  deck.  The  gunner  obtained  the  exact  range,  and  sent 
a  pointed  bolt  which  crashed  through  the  thin  iron  plating,  making  sad 
havoc  on  board  the  boat.  Another,  a  third,  pierced  the  plating.  The  ves 
sel  was  rapidly  leaking,  and  before  the  officers  could  get  out  of  range  it 
ran  aground  upon  a  sand-bar,  and  was  utterly  disabled.  Many  of  her 
crew  were  killed  or  wounded. 

"  Issue  short  rations,"  was  the  order  of  Major-general  Stevenson,  who 
had  charge  of  the  Confederate  food  department.(4)  This  was  what  the 
soldiers  had  to  eat  each  day :  four  ounces  of  flour,  four  of  bacon,  one  and 
one-half  of  rice,  two  of  pease,  three  of  sugar.  The  pease  were  wormy,  the 
bacon  rancid.  It  was  less  than  one-quarter  of  a  regular  ration.  The  Con 
federate  soldiers  had  a  hard  time.  TJiey  could  not  show  themselves  above 
the  breastworks,  could  not  walk,  around,  but  must  lie  all  day  in  the  broil 
ing  sun  or  pelting  rain,  without  shelter.  They  could  not  leave  their  posts 
to  wash  or  obtain  water.  The  Union  solid  shot  were  tearing  through  the 
embankments,  or  shells  were  bursting  among  them. 

The  Union  artillerymen  wanted  small  mortars.  To  obtain  them  they 
cut  down  oak-trees,  sawed  them  into  short  logs  about  three  feet  long,  cut 
a  round  hole  in  one  end  large  enough  to  take  in  a  shell,  bound  the  logs 
with  iron  bands,  placed  them  in  the  trenches,  loaded  them  with  small 
charges,  and  tossed  shells  into  the  Confederate  lines. 

The  Confederate  soldiers  were  still  animated  with  the  hope  and  expec 
tation  that  Johnston  would  soon  have  a  great  army,  and  would  fall  on 
Grant's  rear  and  compel  him  to  abandon  the  siege. 

"Not  the  slightest  fear,"  writes  a  Confederate,  "was  expressed  %of  the 
city  ever  falling  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy ;  not  a  man,  woman,  or 
child  believed  such  an  event  at  all  likely  to  occur,  but  all  anticipated  the 
defeat  and  destruction  of  Grant's  army  as  soon  as  Johnston  arrived  with 
fifty  thousand  men.  he  was  reported  to  have  under  his  command."(5) 

The  negroes  who  flocked  to  the  Union  army  were  set  to  work.  Dur 
ing  the  month  of  June  twelve  miles  of  trenches  were  excavated,  eighty- 
nine  batteries  constructed,  and  two  hundred  and  twenty  guns  placed  in 
position,  each  opening  fire  upon  the  Confederate  lines. 

One  of  the  principal  Confederate  forts  was  near  the  Jackson  road. 
The  Union  engineers  determined  to  undermine  it.  The  trench  was  car 
ried  beneath  the  fort  and  a  ton  of  powder  was  tamped  into  the  earth.  On 


THE   OLD   FLAG  OK   THE  MISSISSIPPI. 


301 


June  25th  all  was  ready — the  fuse  laid  and  fired.  There  was  a  heavy  jar, 
a  roar,  and  the  air  wras  filled  with  earth,  timber,  cannon,  and  men. 

One  of  the  men  was  a  negro  slave,  who  had  been  set  to  work  by  the 
Confederates,  but  who  was  blown  into  the  Union  lines  and  into  freedom 
at  the  same  time.  He  was  very  much  frightened. 

"  How  high  did  you  go  up  ?"  asked  a  soldier. 

"  Dunno,  massa ;  t'ink  I  neber  should  light — yah  !  yah  !  Went  up 
'bout  free  mile."  He  became  General  Logan's  servant — a  free  man. 


BLOWING    UP   THE   FORT. 


All  along  the  line  the  Union  artillerymen  stood  beside  their  guns  wait 
ing  for  the  explosion.  When  the  dull  roar  rolled  along  the  ravines,  the 
cannon  opened  fire.  Two  regiments  rushed  in  and  held  the  line,  but 
found  the  Confederates  had  a  second  fortification  in  the  rear. 

"  The  enemy's  sharp-shooters  were  all  splendid  marksmen,  and  effectu 
ally  prevented  any  of  our  men  from  rising  above  the  parapet  on  pain  of 
certain  death,  while  it  was  an  utter  impossibility  for  our  cannoneers  to 
load  the  guns  remaining  in  position  on  our  line  without  being  exposed  to 
the  aim  of  a  dense  line  of  sharp-shooters,"  wrote  a  Confederate  soldier.  (6) 


302  MARCHING  TO   VICTORY. 

Famine  was  staring  the  people  of  Yicksburg  in  the  face.  Many  fami 
lies  had  eaten  the  last  mouthful  of  food,  and  were  supplied  from  the  mili 
tary  stores.  Those  who  were  rich  scorned  the  idea  of  living  on  commissary 
supplies  so  long  as  any  food  was  to  be  had.  The  few  provision-dealers  who 
had  flour,  meal,  or  bacon  charged  five  dollars  for  a  pound  of  flour,  or  one 
thousand  dollars  a  barrel;  meal  was  one  hundred  and  forty  dollars  per 
bushel,  molasses  twelve  dollars  per  gallon,  and  beef  two  dollars  and  fifty 
cents  per  pound. Q 

We  are  to  remember  that  these  prices  were  in  Confederate  money, 
which  was  getting  to  be  of  little  value  in  the  estimation  of  the  people. 

Some  of  the  citizens  were  very  generous,  and  refused  to  take  advantage 
of  the  necessities  of  others,  handing  over  all  their  supplies  to  a  commit 
tee  who  looked  after  the  wants  of  the  people  living  in  the  caves  on  the  hill 
side  or  in  their  cellars.  This  the  picture  from  the  diary  of  a  lady  who 
lived  in  a  cellar,  but  who  sometimes  went  up-stairs  for  a  little  fresh  air : 

"  I  was  just  within  the  door  when  a  crash  came  that  threw  me  to  the 
floor.  It  was  the  most  appalling  sensation  I  had  ever  known.  Shaken  and 
deafened,  I  picked  myself  up.  Candles  were  useless  in  the  dense  smoke, 
and  it  was  many  minutes  before  we  could  see.  Then  we  found  the  entire 
side  of  the  room  torn  out.  The  soldiers  who  had  rushed  in  said  that  it  was 
an  eighty-pound  Parrott.  It  had  burst  upon  the  pallet  bed,  which  was  in 
tatters ;  the  toilet  service  and  everything  else  in  the  room  was  smashed.  We 
went  to  bed  in  the  cellar  as  usual.  In  the  morning  we  found  that  two 
more  had  ploughed  up  the  yard. . . . 

"June  21st. — I  had  gone  up-stairs  to-day  to  enjoy  a  rest  on  my  bed, 
when  a  shell  burst  right  outside  the  window  in  front  of  me.  Pieces  flew 
in,  striking  all  around  me,  tearing  down  masses  of  plaster  that  came  tum 
bling  over  me.  When  H—  -  rushed  in  I  was  crawling  out  of  the  plaster, 
digging  it  out  of  my  eyes  and  hair.  He  picked  up  a  piece  as  big  as  a 
saucer  beside  my  pillow.  The  window-frame  began  to  smoke,  and  we  saw 
that  the  house  was  on  fire.  He  got  a  hatchet  and  I  some  water,  and  we 
put  it  out.  Another  shell  came  crashing  near,  and  I  snatched  up  my  comb 
and  brush  and  ran.  It  has  taken  all  the  afternoon  to  get  the  plaster  out  of 
my  hair,  for  my  hands  were  rather  shaky."(8) 

Several  women  and  citizens  were  killed  or  wounded. 

It  is  the  continual  dropping  that  wears  the  stone  at  last.  The  Confed 
erates  were  brave.  Day  and  night  for  six  weeks  they  had  held  the  in- 
trenchments  against  all  assaults.  Day  and  night  the  terrible  storm  of  shot, 
shell,  and  minie-bullets  had  swept  over  them.  The  Confederate  cannon  had 
been  dismantled ;  they  had  seen  their  comrades  blown  into  the  air ;  had 


THE  OLD  FLAG  ON  THE  MISSISSIPPI.  303 

lived  on  one-fourth  rations,  and  had  had  little  sleep.  Physical  strength 
was  failing,  ability  to  endure  had  gone,  hope  of  relief  faded.  Johnston 
had  not  come,  nor  could  he ;  Grant  was  keeping  him  at  bay.  They  had 
little  confidence  in  their  commander.  The  inevitable  hour  was  approach 
ing  ;  every  soldier  knew  it  just  as  well  as  Pemberton. 

It  was  a  curious  letter  which  Pemberton  received  June  28th,  dated  "  In 
the  trenches,"  and  signed  "  Many  Soldiers."  Thus  it  read  : 

"  Everybody  admits  that  we  have  all  covered  ourselves  with  glory  ;  but, 
alas!  alas!  general,  a  crisis  has  arrived  in  the  midst  of  our  siege.  Our  ra 
tions  have  been  cut  down  to  one  biscuit  and  a  small  bit  of  bacon  per  day— 
not  enough  scarcely  to  keep  soul  and  body  together,  much  less  to  stand  the 
hardships  we  are  called  upon  to  stand.  We  are  actually  on  sufferance,  and 
the  consequence  is,  as  far  as  I  can  hear,  there  is  complaining  and  general 
dissatisfaction  throughout  our  lines.  We  are  and  have  been  kept  close  in 
the  trenches  day  and  night,  not  allowed  to  forage  any  at  all,  and  even  if 
permitted  there  is  nothing  to  be  had  among  the  citizens. 

"Men  don't  want  to  starve  and  don't  intend  to,  but  they  call  upon  you 
for  justice,  if  the  Commissary  Department  can  give  it ;  if  it  can't,  you 
must  adopt  some  means  to  relieve  us  very  soon.  The  emergency  of  the 
case  demands  prompt  and  decided  action  on  your  part. 

"  If  you  can't  feed  us  you  had  better  surrender  us — horrible  as  the  idea 
is — than  suffer  this  noble  army  to  disgrace  themselves  by  desertion.  I  tell 
you  plainly  men  are  not  going  to  lie  here  and  perish.  If  they  do  love  their 
country,  self-preservation  is  the  first  law  of  nature,  and  hunger  will  com 
pel  a  man  to  do  almost  anything.  You  had  better-heed  a  warning  voice, 
though  it  is  the  voice  of  a  private  soldier. 

"  This  army  is  now  ripe  for  mutiny  unless  it  can  be  fed." 

This  the  condition  in  the  city  as  described  by  a  Confederate : 

"  Starvation  in  its  worst  forms  now  confronted  the  unfortunate  inhab 
itants,  and  had  the  siege  lasted  two  weeks  longer  the  consequences  would 
have  been  terrible.  All  the  beef  was  exhausted  by  this  time,  and  mules 
were  soon  brought  into  requisition,  and  their  meat  sold  readily  at  a  dollar  a 
pound,  the  citizens  being  as  anxious  to  get  it  as  they  were  before  the  in 
vestment  to  purchase  the  delicacies  of  the  season. "(9) 

This  in  the  lady's  diary : 

"July  3d. — Provisions  so  nearly  gone,  except  the  hogshead  of  sugar, 
that  a  few  more  days  will  bring  starvation  indeed.  Martha  says  that  rats 
are  hanging  dressed  in  the  market  for  sale  with  mule-meat ;  there  is  noth 
ing  else.  An  officer  at  the  battery  told  me  he  had  eaten  one  yesterday."(10) 

What  could  General  Pemberton   do  ?     He  must  either  cut  his  way 


304  MARCHING  TO   VICTORY. 

out  or  surrender.  There  were  hot-headed  officers  in  his  army,  who  talked 
bravely  of  their  ability  to  cut  their  way  through  Grant's  lines ;  but  cooler 
heads  saw  that  it  was  impossible.  General  Pemberton  knew  that  his 
men  were  worn  down  with  constant  watching,  loss  of  sleep,  and  want  of 
food.  He  knew  that  if  he  were  even  able  to  break  through  Grant's  lines 
anywhere  .except  towards  the  north-east  nothing  would  be  gained.  He 
would  be  hemmed  in  by  the  Big  Black  River.  He  sent  a  circular  letter 
to  his  commanders  asking  their  opinions  on  this  question :  "  Can  the  army 
make  the  marches  and  undergo  the  fatigues  necessary  to  accomplish  a  suc 
cessful  evacuation?" 

"  It  cannot,"  was  the  answer  of  Major-generals  Smith,  Forney,  and 
Bowen.  "My  men,"  answered  General  Stevenson,  "are  greatly  enfee 
bled,  but  I  believe  that  most  of  them,  rather  than  be  captured,  would 
exert  themselves  to  the  utmost." 

"  An  evacuation  is  impossible,  on  account  of  the  temper  of  the  troops," 
said  General  Smith. 

"  We  cannot  cut  our  way  out,"  said  most  of  the  brigade  commanders. 

The  major-generals  came  to  Pemberton's  headquarters.  "What  should 
be  done  ?"  There  was  but  one  answer :  "  Surrender." 

It  is  July  3d.  The  Union  pickets  are  in  their  places  ;  the  sharp-shoot 
ers  watching  to  discover  a  Confederate  head  peering  above  the  breast 
works,  but  instead,  the  pickets  on  the  Jackson  road  see  a  white  flag  wav 
ing  in  the  morning  sun.  The  joyful  news  runs  along  the  lines.  Men 
who  have  been  lying  low  upon  the  ground  stand  upon  their  feet.  Two 
Confederate  officers  climb  over  the  intrenchrnents — General  Bowen  and 
Colonel  Montgomery  —  and  walk  towards  the  Union  lines  with  a  letter 
from  Pemberton  to  Grant,  asking  that  commissioners  be  appointed  to 
arrange  for  terms  of  capitulation. 

"  My  terms  are  unconditional  surrender  of  the  city  and  the  troops," 
was  the  reply. 

General  Grant  was  ready  to  assure  Pemberton  that  the  men  who  had 
shown  so  much  courage  and  endured  such  hardships  should  be  treated 
with  respect.  If  General  Pemberton  wished  to  see  him  personally,  he 
would  meet  him  in  front  of  the  lines  at  three  o'clock.  The  hour  came, 
and  General  Grant,  with  Generals  Ord,  McPhersori,  Logan,  and  A.  J. 
Smith,  walked  out  from  the  Union  lines  south  of  the  Jackson  road.  At 
the  same  moment  Pemberton,  Bowen,  and  several  other  officers  advanced 
from  the  Confederate  lines.  The  parties  lifted  their  hats  to  each  other. 

"  What  terms  will  you  allow?"  Pemberton  asked. 

"  Those  which  I  have  already  indicated,"  was  the  reply. 


ili 

I 
' 


THE  OLD  FLAG  ON  THE  MISSISSIPPI.  307 

"  The  conference  may  as  well  terminate,"  said  Pemberton. 
"  Very  well,"  said  General  Grant. 

General  Pemberton  knew  that  the  contest  could  not  go  on,  and  they 
sat  down  and  talked  it  over. 

The  Fourth  of  July  dawned — a  great  day  in  the  history  of  our  coun 
try.  Terms  of  surrender  had  been  agreed  upon.  Thirty -one  thousand 
men  gave  up  their  arms,  with  one  hundred  and  seventy-two  cannon. 

In  March  General  Pemberton  had  61,495  men.  That  great  army  had 
disappeared.  All  but  the  six  thousand  under  Loring  who  broke  away  at 
the  battle  of  Champion  Hills  were  lost  to  the  Confederacy.  Since  March 
Pemberton  has  lost  two  hundred  and  sixty  cannon. 

The  Union  troops  marched  into  the  city,  and  the  Stars  and  Stripes 
were  raised  above  the  court-house.  Then  the  great  fleet  of  steamboats 
came  steaming  to  the  levee,  with  their  colors  flying. 

Once  more  from  a  woman's  diary :  "  Truly  it  was  a  fine  spectacle  to 
see  the  fleet  of  transports  sweep  around  the  curve  and  anchor  in  the  teeth 
of  the  batteries  lately  vomiting  fire.  Presently  Mr.  J—  -  passed  us. 
'  Aren't  you  coming  ?  There's  provisions  on  those  boats  —  coffee  and 
flour.'  .  .  .  The  town-folk  continued  to  dash  through  the  streets  with  their 
arms  full,  canned  goods  predominating.  Towards  five  Mr.  J—  -  passed 
again.  '  Keep  on  the  lookout,'  he  said ;  '  the  army  of  occupation  is  com 
ing  ;'  and  in  a  few  minutes  the  head  of  the  column  appeared.  What  a 
contrast  to  the  suffering  creatures  we  had  seen  were  these  stalwart,  well- 
fed  men,  so  splendidly  set  up  and  accoutred  !  Sleek  horses,  polished  arms, 
bright  plumes ;  this  was  the  pride  and  panoply  of  war.  Civilization,  dis 
cipline,  and  order  seemed  to  enter  with  the  measured  tramp  of  those 
marching  columns,  and  the  heart  turns  with  throbs  of  added  pity  to  the 
worn  men  in  gray  who  were  being  blindly  dashed  against  this  embodi 
ment  of  modern  power."(u) 

General  Johnston  had  gathered  twenty-six  thousand  men,  and  on  June 
29th  he  marched  w^est  towards  the  Big  Black  River  to  make  a  demonstra 
tion  in  Grant's  rear,  but  was  confronted  by  Sherman  with  the  Fifteenth 
Corps,  under  General  Steele,  the  Thirteenth,  under  General  Ord,  the 
Ninth,  under  General  Parke,  with  Lauman's  and  "W.  S.  Smith's  divisions, 
making  altogether  forty  thousand. 

General  Johnston  saw  that  he  could  not  attack  Sherman  with  any  hope 
of  success.  While  pondering  the  state  of  affairs  a  messenger  reached  him 
with  the  news  that  Yicksburg  had  surrendered.  He  turned  east  and 
marches  once  more  to  Jackson,  his  despondent  troops  reaching  the  town 


308  MARCHING   TO   VICTORY. 

July  7th.  Sherman  was  at  his  heels,  the  Union  troops  crossing  Big  Black 
the  same  day.  The  sun  poured  down  its  fiercest  rays  ;  the  troops  suffered 
for  want  of  water  and  from  heat.  The  Confederates  strengthened  the  in- 
trenchments.  Sherman  was  too  wise  to  attempt  to  storm  the  breastworks. 
The  Fifteenth  Corps  was  in  the  centre,  the  Thirteenth  on  the  right,  the 
Ninth  on  the  left,  north  of  the  town.  The  cannonade  began,  and  there 
was  constant  skirmishing.  Sherman's  wagons  were  bringing  bales  of  cot 
ton  for  breastworks,  while  the  Union  cavalry  swept  north  and  south  along 
the  railroad,  destroying  the  track. 

While  this  is  going  on  at  Jackson  let  us  look  at  the  last  stronghold  of 
the  Confederates  on  the  Mississippi — Port  Hudson.  Slaves  had  been  at 
work  many  months  building  Confederate  intrenchments  upon  the  bluff 
overlooking  the  river.  The  works  were  very  strong,  the  parapet  twenty 
feet  thick,  and  the  ditch  outside  the  intrenchments  fifteen  feet  deep. 
Along  the  river  were  twenty  heavy  siege-guns.  Admiral  Farragut  had 
tried  in  vain  to  silence  them  with  his  fleet,  but  his  vessels  had  been 
roughly  handled,  and  some  of  them  destroyed. 

The  river  makes  a  bend,  running  north-east,  then  turning  sharply 
south,  and  the  great  guns  in  the  fortifications  could  send  a  plunging  fire 
upon  the  fleet.  The  place  could  be  captured  only  by  an  army. 

The  Confederate  works  protecting  the  rear  began  a  mile  below  the 
town,  near  Ross's  Landing,  ran  east  amid  hills  and  knolls,  came  out  upon 
an  open  plain  dotted  with  trees,  then  ran  parallel  with  the  river  a  mile 
east  of  it  to  Thompson's  Creek,  a  little  stream  that  trickles  amid  the 
knolls.  There  were  thirty  cannon  along  these  intrenchments.  Seven 
thousand  Confederate  troops,  under  the  command  of  Major-general  Gard 
ner,  held  the  place. 

General  Johnston  at  the  outset  saw  that  a  Union  army  under  General 
Banks,  which  had  been  operating  west  of  the  Mississippi,  was  moving  east, 
and  would  cross  the  Mississippi,  get  in  rear  of  Port  Hudson,  and  begin 
a  siege.  He  sent  a  messenger,  May  19th,  with  orders  for  Gardner  to 
evacuate  the  place  ;  but  the  messenger  did  not  arrive  till  the  23d.  He  was 
a  day  late,  for  the  Union  troops  were  landing  below  the  city  and  closing 
around  it  —  Gen.  T.  W.  Sherman's  division,  near  Ross's  Landing;  then 
Augur's  division,  south-east  of  the  town,  Paine's  in  the  centre,  and  Weit- 
zel's  north.  Grierson's  cavalry,  after  a  three-weeks'  rest,  had  been  scour 
ing  the  country  east  to  hold  in  check  any  Confederate  forces  gathering  in 
that  direction. 

"Assault  along  the  whole  line,"  was  the  order  of  General  Banks. 

The  sun  had  just  risen,  May  25th,  when  the  Union  artillery  opened  fire. 


THE  OLD  FLAG  ON  THE   MISSISSIPPI. 


311 


Through  the  forenoon  the  uproar  went  on.  It  was  mid-afternoon  before 
the  grand  assault  began.  The  troops  advanced  over  broken  ground,  and 
their  progress  was  difficult  and  slow.  They  were  in  the  open  field  and  suf 
fered  severely,  while  the  Confederates,  behind  their  intrenchments,  lost  few 
men.  With  a  hurrah  the  Union  troops  rushed  upon  the  fortifications, 
reached  the  ditch,  to  see  that  it  would 
not  be  possible  for  them  to  scale  the 
parapet.  They  were  compelled  to  fall 
back,  leaving  the  ground  strewn  with 
nearly  two  thousand  killed  and  wounded. 
It  had  been  a  brave  but  fruitless  assault. 
The  Confederate  loss  was  hardly  three 
hundred. 

On  the  morning  of  the  26th  the 
Union  soldiers  placed  siege-guns  in  po 
sition,  which  sent  heavy  shells  into 
the  Confederate  lines.  The  Union  line 
was  seven  miles  long,  and  no  end  of 
labor  had  to  be  done — earth  shovelled, 
trees  cut  down,  trenches  dug,  cannon 
moved. 

On  June  13th  General  Banks  sent  a 

summons  to  General  Gardner  to  surrender,  who  refused.  Once  more  the 
Union  troops  rushed  upon  the  Confederate  works,  but  they  could  not 
cross  the  ditch.  They  gained  new  ground,  and  held  it,  but  at  a  cost  of 
nearly  two  thousand  killed  and  wounded. 

The  shovel,  and  not  the  bayonet,  did  its  work.  Every  night  the 
trenches  were  carried  nearer  the  Confederate  lines. 

On  July  7th  a  messenger  arrived  from  Yicksburg  with  the  news  that 
it  had  surrendered.  A  wild  cheer  went  up  from  the  Union  line.  The 
soldiers  tossed  their  hats  into  the  air  and  screamed  themselves  hoarse. 
They  shouted  the  news  to  the  Confederates,  "  Yicksburg  is  ours !"  A 
white  flag  came  out  from  the  Confederate  lines.  An  officer  brought  a 
letter  from  General  Gardner  to  General  Banks  asking  if  the  news  is  true, 
and  carried  back  a  copy  of  Grant's  letter. 

The  morning  of  July  8th  dawns.  Again  the  white  flag  flies  above  the 
Confederate  intrenchments.  General  Gardner  is  ready  to  surrender.  His 
provisions  are  exhausted.  His  troops  are  eating  mule-meat.  Some  of 
them  have  eaten  cats  and  dogs.  It  is  useless  to  prolong  the  contest.  At 
nine  o'clock  three  Union  arid  three  Confederate  officers  meet  between  the 


MAP  OF   PORT   HUDSON. 


312 


MARCHING   TO  VICTORY. 


lines  to  arrange  the  terms  of  capitulation.  Seven  thousand  troops,  fifty- 
one  cannon,  and  all  the  stores  are  given  up. 

Going  back  now  to  Jackson,  we  see,  on  July  12th,  Lauman's  division 
of  Union  troops  falling  upon  the  Confederates,  to  be  repulsed  with  a  loss 
of  five  hundred. 

Sherman  needs  ammunition  for  his  artillery.  The  trains  arrive  July 
16th,  but  on  the  morning  of  the  17th,  when  the  cannon  are  ready  to  open 
fire,  not  a  Confederate  is  to  be  seen.  Johnston  has  stolen  away,  inarching 
east  towards  Alabama.  Sherman  burns  bridges  and  depots,  levels  the  for- 


ARRIVAL   OF   THE   STEAMER    "  IMPERIAL." 


tifications,  distributes  food  to  the  poor  people,  and  then  turns  west  towards 
Vicksburg. 

The  last  vestige  of  Confederate  power  and  authority  had  disappeared 
from  the" Mississippi.  Once  more  its  waters  were  free  to  the  commerce  of 
the  great  West.  On  the  16th,  while  Johnston  was  hastening  eastward  from 
Jackson,  the  steamboat  Imperial,  from  St.  Louis,  was  rounding  up  to  the 
ievee  at  New  Orleans  amid  the  shouts  of  the  multitude.  The  great  river 


THE   OLD   FLAG  ON  THE   MISSISSIPPI.  315 

was  flowing  peacefully  to  the  sea,  with  no  Confederate  cannon  command 
ing  its  waters. 

The  troops  of  the  North-west  had  declared  to  the  world  that  thence 
forth  it  should  flow  through  an  undivided  country,  and  together  with  the 
Army  of  the  Potomac  at  Gettysburg  had  manifested  to  the  nations  of 
Europe  that  thenceforth  the  country  was  to  be  one  nation,  under  one  flag, 
with  Union  and  Liberty  forever. 


NOTES   TO   CHAPTER  XIV. 

( !)  "A  Woman's  Diary,  Siege  of  Vicksburg,"  Century  Magazine,  September,  1885. 

( 2)  Abrahams,  "  Siege  of  Vicksburg,"  p.  29. 

( 3)  General  Grant,  Century  Magazine,  September,  1885. 
(  4)  Abrahams,  "  Siege  of  Vicksburg, "p.  42. 

( 5)  Idem. 

( 6)  Idem. 
(  ')  Idem. 

( 8)  "A  Woman's  Diary,"  Century  Magazine,  April,  1885. 

( 9)  Abrahams,  "  Siege  of  Vicksburg,"  p.  67. 

(10)  "A  Woman's  Diary,"  Century  Magazine,  April,  1885. 
(»)  Idem. 


316  MATCHING  TO  VICTORY. 


CHAPTEK   XV. 

MIDSUMMER,  1863. 

T^HE  midsummer  days,  bright  with  sunshine,  perfumed  with  flowers, 
were  days  of  gloom  throughout  the  States  of  the  'Confederacy.  The 
month  of  June  had  been  one  of  confident  expectation,  exhilaration  of  spirit 
— a  looking  forward  to  the  time,  near  at  hand,  when  the  army  of  General 
Lee  would  be  in  Philadelphia  or  Baltimore,  or  flinging  out  the  flag  of  the 
Confederacy  above  the  marble  walls  of  the  Capitol,  to  be  followed  by 
recognition  as  a  nation  by  France,  England,  and  the  other  European  pow 
ers.  Instead  of  this  the  Confederate  troops-  were  once  more  in  Virginia, 
having  met  with  a  disastrous  defeat  and  frightful  losses,  which  carried 
sorrow  and  mourning  to  thousands  of  homes.  More  than  this,  Vicksburg 
and  Port  Hudson  had  surrendered,  with  all  their  cannon  and  material, 
and  more  than  thirty-five  thousand  troops  as  prisoners  of  war.  During 
the  summer  months,  the  losses  of  the  Confederacy,  by  battle  and  surren 
der,  aggregated  not  far  from  seventy -five  thousand  men.  The  States 
west  of  the  Mississippi  were  cut  off  from  those  east.  In  addition  to  these 
disasters,  Rosecrans,  by  a  strategic  movement  from  Murfreesboro,  was 
forcing  General  Bragg  out  of  the  State  of  Tennessee.  Of  the  situation  of 
affairs  a  Richmond  paper  said,  "  The  sadness  which  lately  seized  the 
Southern  people,  though  not  without  cause,  was  without  justification.  It 
was  the  result  of  heavy  and  sudden  disappointment  overtaking  the  public 
mind  while  in  a  high  state  of  exhilaration,  confidence,  and  expectation. 
It  was  due  to  two  great  misfortunes  occurring  simultaneously  in  quarters 
where  nothing  of  the  sort  was  at  all  apprehended.  The  repulse  at  Gettys 
burg  was  certainly  an  event  which  there  was  no  reason  to  anticipate.  It 
was  the  result  of  an  attack  where  an  attack  was  desperate  and  hopeless. 
But  for  that  attack  Lincoln  would  now  have  been  a  fugitive  from  his 
Capitol,  and  Meade's  army  a  scattered  and  demoralized  mob.'X1)  "  The 
news  of  the  Vicksburg  surrender  is  not  less  astonishing  than  unpleasant. 
It  is  the  most  unexpected  announcement  which  has  been  made  in  this 
war."(3) 


MIDSUMMER,  1863.  317 

The  Richmond  newspaper  which  was  regarded  as  the  organ  of  Jeffer 
son  Davis  said,  "Despondency  is  both  folly  and  treason.  The  men  had 
greater  cause  for  unutterable  disgust  and  loathing  of  our  fiendish  enemies, 
who  this  day  prefer  going  under  the  sod  to  going  under  their  yoke.  This 
is  not  the  hour  for  lassitude  or  discouragement,  but  for  new  efforts  and  a 
higher  resolve."(3) 

"  Our  Yankee  enemies,"  said  a  Charleston  paper,  "  are  very  exultant  at 
the  fall  of  Vicksburg  and 'Port  Hudson  into  their  hands.  If  they  were 
any  other  people  than -they  are,  they  would  be  ashamed  of  their  success. 
They  have  succeeded  not  by  their  valor  or  skill  in  arms ;  every  effort  they 
made  to  take  the  fortified  position  by  storm  failed.  .  .  .  Confederate  imbe 
cility,  not  their  courage  or  energy,  occasioned  the  fall  of  Vicksburg  and 
Port  Hudson.  Yet  after  being  thrashed  a  dozen  times,  and  our  troops, 
surrounded  by  overwhelming  numbers,  surrender  to  starvation,  they  re 
joice  with  frantic  exultation.  This  is  characteristic  of  the  people.  They 
have  no  delicacy,  no  pride,  no  conscience.  Coarse,  brutal,  and  unscrupu 
lous,  it  is  a  matter  of  no  consequence  to  them  how  they  obtain  success.  . . . 
They  are  humiliated  by  no  disaster ;  they  are  mortified  by  no  defeats. 
They  fight  for  gain,  and  know  neither  honor  nor  glory  nor  shame  in  ob 
taining  it."(4) 

Gettysburg  and  Vicksburg  together  marked  the  beginning  of  the  ebb 
tide  in  the  fortunes  of  the  Confederacy.  Never  again  to  the  people  of 
the  South  would  return  the  high  hope  and  exultant  expectations  of  those 
early  summer  days. 

There  was  joy  in  the  loyal  States — church-bells  ringing  joyful  peals, 
cannon  thundering  salutes.  From  every  State  men  and  women  and 
maidens  hastened  to  Gettysburg  to  the  hospitals  there,  or  to  those  on  the 
Mississippi,  or  wherever  there  were  sick  or  wounded,  to  minister  to  their 
wants,  to  sit  by  their  beds  through  the  sultry  nights,  watching  the  ebb 
and  flow  of  life ;  listening  to  the  last  words  of  the  dying,  writing  down 
the  last  prayer  or  blessing  to  be  read  by  loved  ones  far  away — caring 
alike  for  Union  and  Confederate.  Never  in  the  history  of  the  world  had 
there  been  such  an  outpouring  of  sympathy,  devotion,  and  tenderness. 
On  the  battle-field  arid  in  the  hospital  patriotism  and  all  the  highest 
and  noblest  qualities  of  heart  and  soul  shone  resplendent  as  the  mid 
day  sun. 

"  Can  I  do  anything  for  you  ?"  was  the  question  kindly  put  to  a  Con 
federate  officer  from  South  Carolina. 

"  No,"  the  surly  reply. 

The  day  was  hot,  the  air  offensive  from  the  thousands  of  wounded  in 


318  MARCHING  TO  VICTORY. 

the  wards  of  the  hospital  on  the  hill-side  just  outside  from  Gettysburg, 
and  the  gentleman  who  had  left  home  and  business  to  care  for  the  wound 
ed  had  brought  a  bottle  of  cologne  to  make  sweet  the  tainted  air. 

"  Let  me  put  some  of  this  on  your  handkerchief." 

"  I  have  no  handkerchief." 

"  Here  is  one  for  you ;"  and  wetting  it  with  the  perfume,  he  placed  it 
in  the  hands  of  the  Confederate,  who,  with  tears  upon  his  face  and  a 
choking  in  his  throat,  said,  "  I  can't  understand  you  Yankees.  You  fight 
us  like"  devils,  and  then  you  care  for  us  with  the  tenderness  of  angels.  I 
am  sorry  I  entered  this  war."(5)  So  in  the  hospitals  men  learned  the 
eternal  truth  that  love  is  the  mightiest  moral  force  in  the  universe  of  God. 

"  May  every  hair  of  your  head  be  a  wax-taper  to  light  you  on  your 
way  to  glory,"  said  a  jolly  Irish  Confederate  soldier  as  the  gentleman 
bathed  his  face  with  the  perfume.(6) 

"  Have  you  written  to  your  mother  since  the  battle  ?"  was  the  question 
put  by  a  chaplain  to  a  boy. 

"  No,  sir,  and  there  is  the  reason  why  I  have  not,"  said  the  boy,  as  he 
laid  the  sheet  aside  with  his  left  hand,  exposing  the  stump  of  his  right  arm ; 
"and  there  is  another  reason,"  he  added,  as  he  pointed  to  his  left  leg 
amputated.  "And  now,  sir,  if  you  will  be  so  kind  as  to  write  for  me,  tell 
mother  that  I  have  given  my  right  arm  and  my  left  leg  to  my  country, 
and  that  I  am  ready  to  give  the  others. "(7) 

But  there  were  men  in  the  Northern  States  who  experienced  no  thrill 
of  joy  when  they  learned  that  victories  had  been  won  at  Gettysburg  and 
Yicksburg,  that  the  tide  of  the  Mississippi  was  flowing  freely  once  more, 
and  that  the  Stars  and  Stripes  was  emblem  of  sovereignty  from  its  source 
to  the  sea.  To  them  the  ringing  of  the  church-bells  was  discordant  music, 
and  the  song  of  the  "  Star  Spangled  Banner  "  a  hateful  melody. 

On  the  3d  of  March  Congress  had  passed  a  law  making  legal  the  act 
of  Abraham  Lincoln  in  suspending  the  writ  of  Habeas  Corpus  whenever 
the  safety  of  the  country  demanded  it.  Mr.  Vallandigham  was  back  once 
more  in  Ohio— the  nominee  of  the  Democratic  party  for  governor.  Pub 
lic  meetings  had  been  held  in  that  State,  in  Pennsylvania,  and  at  Albany, 
at  which  the  friends  of  Mr.  Yallandigham  drew  up  memorials  to  Presi 
dent  Lincoln,  asking  him  to  revoke  all  orders  relating  to  his  arrest.  Plain 
and  direct,  and  to  all  loyal  hearts  very  convincing,  was  the  reply  of  the 
President  to  the  Democrats  of  New  York.  These  his  words : 

"  Long  experience  has  shown  that  armies  cannot  be  maintained  unless 
desertion  shall  be  punished  by  the  severe  penalty  of  death.  The  law  re 
quires  and  the  law  of  the  Constitution  sanctions  this  punishment.  Must  I 


MIDSUMMER,  1863.  319 

shoot  a  simple-minded  soldier-boy  who  deserts,  while  I  must  not  touch  a 
hair  of  a  wily  agitator  who  induces  him  to  desert  ?  This  is  none  the  less 
injurious  by  getting  a  father,  or  brother,  or  friend  into  a  public  meeting 
and  there  working  on  his  feelings  till  he  is*  persuaded  to  write  to  the  sol 
dier-boy  that  he  is  fighting  in  a  bad  cause,  for  a  wicked  administration  of 
a  contemptible  government  too  weak  to  arrest  and  punish  him  if  he  shall 
desert.  I  think  that  in  such  a  case  to  silence  the  agitator  and  save  the 
boy  is  not  only  Constitutional,  but  withal  a  great  mercy." 

So  regardful  of  justice  and  right  were  the  expressions  of  the  President 
the  great  mass  of  the  people  saw  that  the  exercise  of  power  would  never  be 
abused  by  him. 

On  Saturday,  July  4th,  while  the  field  of  Gettysburg  was  red  with  the 
blood  of  those  who  had  died  that  the  Nation  might  live,  and  while  the 
Confederate  troops  at  Yicksburg  were  laying  down  their  arms,  the  Young 
Men's  Democratic  Association  was  holding  a  meeting  in  the  Academy  of 
Music,  New  York,  to  celebrate  the  Independence  of  the  United  States. 
Thousands  of  men  and  women  filled  the  building  or  thronged  the  streets 
around  it.  The  bands  played  "  Hail  Columbia  "  and  the  "  Star  Spangled 
Banner."  Horatio  Seymour,  Governor  of  New  York,  addressed  the  as 
sembly. 

"When  I  accepted  your  invitation,"  he  said,  "to  be  present  at  this 
meeting  we  were  promised  the  downfall  of  Yicksburg,  the  opening  of  the 
Mississippi  River,  and  the  probable  capture  of  the  Confederate  capital,  and 
the  exhaustion  of  the  rebellion.  By  common  consent  all  parties  had  fixed 
upon  this  day  when  the  results  of  the  campaign  should  be  known  to  mark 
out  that  line  of  policy  which  they  felt  our  country  should  pursue.  But, 
in  the  moment  of  expected  victory,  there  came  the  midnight  cry  for  help 
from  Pennsylvania  to  save  its  despoiled  fields  from  the  invading  foe,  and 
almost  within  sight  of  this  great  commercial  metropolis  the  ships  of  your 
merchants  were  burned  to  the  water's  edge. ...  I  stand  before  you  on  this 
occasion  not  as  one  animated  by  expected  victories,  but  feeling  as  all  feel 
now  within  sound  of  my  voice  the  dread  uncertainties  of  the  conflicts 
which  rage  around  us,  not  alone  in  Pennsylvania,  but  along  the  whole 
course  of  the  Mississippi  —  contests  that  are  carrying  down  to  bloody 
graves  so  many  of  our  fellow-countrymen,  so  many  of  our  friends — that 
is  spreading  renewed  mourning  throughout  this  great,  broad  land  of  ours." 

Of  the  suspension  of  the  habeas  corpus  authorized  by  Congress,  Gov 
ernor  Seymour  said, "  This  doctrine  of  the  suspension  of  the  Constitution, 
this  doctrine  of  the  suspension  of  the  laws,  is  unconstitutional,  is  unsound, 
is  unjust,  is  treasonable." 


320  MARCHING  TO  VICTORY. 

No  allusion  to  Gettysburg,  no  cheer  for  the  victory  achieved,  from  ora 
tor  or  audience. 

Said  Mr.  Ellsworth,  of  Connecticut,  another  speaker,  "  When  Ireland 
revolted  from  her  long  and  hateful  union  with  England,  what  happened  ? 
British  bayonets  crossed  the  Channel  and  extinguished  in  blood  the  hopes 
of  Irish  independence.  We  have  no  such  power  in  our  country  to  engage 
in  the  wholesale  slaughter  of  our  fellow-citizens.  Neither  have  we  the 
power  to  conscript  them  against  their  will.  ...  As  the  States  came  volun 
tarily  into  the  Union,  you  cannot  compel  them  to  remain  in  the  Union  by 
force  of  arms." 

At  the  same  hour,  amid  the  hills  of  New  Hampshire,  at  the  State  capi 
tal,  there  was  a  great  Democratic  convention.  Upon  the  banners  borne  in 
the  procession  were  these  sentiments :  "  Peace,  Compromise,  and  Union ;" 
"Resistance  to  tyrants  is  obedience  to  God." 

Franklin  Pierce,  ex-President  of  the  United  States,  was  president  of 
the  convention.  "  Do  we  not  know,"  he  said,  "  that  the  cause  of  our 
calamities  is  the  vicious  intermeddling  of  too  many  of  the  citizens  of  the 
Northern  States  with  the  Constitutional  rights  of  the  Southern  States  ? .  . . 
Here  in  the  loyal  States  the  mailed  hand  of  military  usurpation  strikes 
down  the  liberties  of  the  people,  and  its  foot  tramples  a  desecrated  consti 
tution.  .  .  .  You  or  I  myself  may  be  the  next  victim  of  unconstitutional, 
arbitrary,  irresponsible  power;  but  we  are  free  now,  and  we  resolve  to  live, 
or,  if  need  be,  die  as  such. . . .  We  will  build  up  a  great  mausoleum  of  hearts 
to  which  men  who  yearn  for  liberty  in  after-years,  with  bowed  heads  and 
reverently,  will  resort  as  Christian  pilgrims  to  the  sacred  shrines  of  the 
Holy  Land." 

Loyal  men  and  women  were  at  a  loss  to  understand  the  exact  meaning 
of  the  rhetoric  of  ex-President  Pierce,  but  they  fully  comprehended  the  at 
titude  of  a  political  party  which,  on  the  anniversary  of  the  Independence 
of  the  United  States — with  the  newspaper  of  the  morning  announcing  the 
result  of  the  great  battle,  and  setting  forth  the  devotion  and  sacrifice  of 
their  fellow-citizens,  the  pouring  out  of  life  for  a  united  country — had  no 
cheer  to  give  for  the  crowning  victory  of  the  war,  no  praise  for  the  valor  of 
the  living,  no  eulogy  for  the  heroic  dead ;  which  resolved  that  the  war  was 
a  failure,  demanded  compromise  and  peace,  declared  its  determination  to 
resist  the  suspension  of  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus,  and  yet  with  many 
high-sounding  words  protested  its  allegiance  to  the  Constitution  and  the 
Union.  "  Charity  Grimes  "  attended  the  convention,  and  after  listening  to 
the  resolutions,  prepared  a  series  of  her  own : 


MIDSUMMER,  1863.  321 

"Resolved,  That  Lincoln's  a  usurper- 
An  awful  skeery  wun  at  that. 
He  shall  not  lead  us  wun  step  further 
Than  we've  a  mind  to  go— that's  flat! 
We  love  the  Government  of  the  Natio"nf 
But  we  go  agin  its  administrashun. 

"Resolved,  We  will  rekord  the  story 
Thet  in  this  war  we've  acted  wust. 
It's  true  the  Saouth  fired  on  'Old  Glory;' 
But  didn't  we  go  hoist  it  fust? 
We  might  have  missed  the  war's  mischances 
Ef  we  had  hoisted  olive  branches. 

"Therefore  we  form  a  resolushun 
To  make  all  Lincoln's  orders  void — 
To  put  his  ginerals  to  konfushon 
So  that  our  own  sha'n't  be  annoyed, 
And  fortify  our  strong  position 
By  firing  guns  on  abolition. 

"We'll  grasp  the  fiery  Southern  cross, 
And  bid  such  folks  as  Butler  bear  it; 
We'll  kover  aour  defeat  and  loss 
With  treason's  garb  (naow  Davis  wears  it). 
We  skorn  deceit,  detest  hypockracy. 
Make  way  thure  for  the  Peace  Dimmockrasay  !"(8) 

Hating  the  negro,  opposed  to  the  emancipation  of  the  slaves  and  their 
employment  as  soldiers,  carried  away  by  political  prejudice  and  party 
zeal,  the  men  composing  the  Peace  Democracy,  blind  to  the  intentions  of 
the  conspirators  who 'were  attempting  by  force  of  arms  to  destroy  the 
Union  and  subvert  the  Constitution,  arrayed  themselves  against  those  who 
were  giving  their  lives  to  sustain  it. 

On  March  3d,  Congress  had  authorized  a  draft  for  three  hundred  thou 
sand  men.  No  volunteers  were  coming  forward  to  fill  up  the  ranks  deci 
mated  by  battle  or  disease.  If  the  country  was  to  be  saved,  men  must  be 
impressed  into  military  service.  Money  was  needed  as  well  as  men, 
and,  wisely  or  unwisely,  the  condition  was  attached  that  a  man  might 
be  exempted  upon  the  payment  of  three  hundred  dollars.  The  Peace 
Democrats  were  opposed  to  the  draft.  The  Copperheads  denounced  it  in 
bitter  language,  and  said  that  it  was  the  "  rich  man's  war,  but  the  poor 
man's  fight ;"  meaning  that  those  who  were  making  money  by  the  war 
could  escape  the  draft,  while  the  poor  man,  who  could  not  get  three  hun- 
21 


322  MARCHING  TO   VICTORY. 

dred  dollars,  must  leave  home  and  expose  himself  in  battle.  The  Knights 
of  the  Golden  Circle  in  Indiana  and  Illinois  counselled  resistance  to  the 
draft.  They  sent  agents  to  other  States  to  organize  the  disaffected.  They 
were  angry  when  the  news  from  Gettysburg  came  flashing  over  the  wires. 
The  drafting  was  to  begin  July  llth.  During  the  preceding  week  Gov 
ernor  Seymour  had  been  informed  that  a  conspiracy  was  being  organized 
to  resist  it,  but  it  was  regarded  as  an  improbable  story.(9)  There  was  no 
disturbance  on  Saturday,  the  first  day  of  the  drafting ;  but  down  in  the 
cellars  and  up  in  the  attics  of  the  rickety  tenement-houses,  through  Sun 
day,  the  conspirators  were  at  work.  * 

Monday  morning  came,  and  people  on  their  way  to  business  saw  a 
crowd  armed  with  clubs,  old  muskets,  and  rusty  swords  following  a  man 
who  was  beating  a  copper  pan  and  marching  towards  the  Provost-marshal's 
office,  where  the  drafting  was  going  on.  Suddenly  stones  came  crashing 
through  the  windows,  wounding  the  men  conducting  the  drafting,  who 
fled  from  the  house.  The  mob  rushed  in,  destroyed  the  furniture,  tum 
bled  it  out-of-doors,  and  set  the  building  on  fire.  The  steam  fire-engines 
came,  but  the  rioters  cut  the  hose,  and  the  building  and  two  others  were 
burnedc  A  great  crowd  gathered ;  thousands  of  infuriated  men  and  wom 
en,  armed  with  picks,  shovels,  pokers,  crow-bars,  and  clubs,  attacked  the 
police,  knocking  them  down,  and  seizing  inoffensive  citizens  with  the  in 
tention  of  hanging  them.  While  the  Provost-marshal's  office  was  in  flames, 
a  man  with  large  whiskers,  heavy  mustache,  in  a  blue  coat,  light  vest,  and 
striped  trousers,  climbed  upon  the  roof  of  a  shanty,  "  I  am  from  Virginia," 
he  said ;  "  you  have  begun  nobly,  but  I'll  tell  you  what  I  want,  and  what 
you  must  do.  You  must  organize,  appoint  leaders,  and  crush  this  abolition 
draft.  If  you  don't  find  anybody  else  to  lead  you,  I  will.  Lincoln  is 
worse  than  Nero  or  Caligula."  The  great  crowd  yelled  their  approval, 
and  started  to  carry  out  the  work  of  destruction.  On  Lexington  Avenue 
they  came  to  a  fine  residence,  which  some  one  said  belonged  to  Horace 
Greeley,  editor  of  the  Tribune.  They  smashed  the  windows,  broke  down 
the  doors,  threw  out  the  elegant  chairs,  marble  tables,  mirrors,  beautiful 
books,  and  fine  paintings,  the  red-faced  women  and  blear-eyed  men  carry 
ing  off  whatever  suited  them ;  then  they  set  the  building  on  fire,  and  danced 
with  savage  glee  and  hideous  yells  as  the  flames  curled  through  the  rooms. 
The  'mob  went  to  the  Bull's  Head  Tavern  to  obtain  rum,  but  the  landlord 
had  closed  his  door.  The  locks  and  bolts  gave  way  before  their  pounding, 
and  then  they  helped  themselves  to  liquors  and  choicest  wines,  smashed 
the  furniture,  and  left  the  building  a  wreck. 

They  regarded  the  negro  as  the  cause  of  the  war.    If  there  had  been  no 


MIDSUMMER,  1863. 


325 


negroes  there  would  have  been  no  draft.  They  would  have  their  re 
venge.  On  Fifth  Avenue  stood  an  asylum  for  colored  children  who  had 
no  father  or  mother  to  care  for  them.  With  a  yell  the  mob  rushed  to  the 
building,  broke  down  the  doors,  seized  the  furniture,  carried  it  off,  and  set 
the  building  on  fire,  then  chased  the  negroes  through  the  streets,  hung 


HANGING   A   NEGRO. 


them  upon  the  trees,  kindled  fires  beneath  the  swaying  bodies,  and  danced 
in  glee  as  they  beheld  the  contortions  of  the  dying  men.  Between  twenty 
and  thirty  colored  nlen  were  beaten,  shot,  or  hung.  The  mob  was  kind 
ly  disposed  towards  General  McClellan,  visiting  his  house  and  giving 
cheers ;  but  he  was  in  New  Jersey,  and  could  not  respond  to  their  calls. 
Their  next  visit  was  to  the  house  of  Judge  Barnard,  who  was  a  Peace 


326  MARCHING  TO  VICTORY. 

Democrat,  who  made  a  speech  and  said  "that  the  conscription  was  uncon, 
stitutional  and  an  act  of  despotism  on  the  part  of  Abraham  Lincoln." 

"The  Tribune!"  next  shouted  the  mob.(10)  A  great  body  of  police 
had  gathered  to  protect  the  office  of  that  newspaper.  Stones  were  thrown, 
but  the  policemen's  clubs  came  down  upon  the  skulls  of  the  rioters.  Scald 
ing  water  was  poured  upon  them,  and  they  were  beaten  back.  Other 
buildings  were  burned,  but  rain  began  to  fall,  and  the  rioters,  well  satis 
fied  with  what  they  had  done,  rested  for  the  night  and  made  preparations 
for  the  morrow. 

It  was  an  opportune  moment  for  them  to  carry  out  their  work  of  de 
struction,  for  Governor  Seymour,  in  compliance  with  the  requisition  of 
President  Lincoln,  had  sent  all  the  militia — thirteen  regiments— to  Penn 
sylvania  to  resist  the  invasion  of  the  Confederates.  The  outbreak  had 
come  as  suddenly  as  the  rising  of  a  whirlwind  on  a  calm  summer  day,  and 
the  police  were  unprepared. 

In  the  armory  on  Twenty-first  Street  was  a  large  quantity  of  ammuni 
tion  and  many  muskets,  guarded  by  forty  policemen.  The  mob  burst 
open  the  door,  but  the  leader  went  down  with  a  bullet  through  his  heart. 
Other  rioters  fell ;  then  the  police,  instead  of  maintaining  the  fight,  fled, 
and  the  mob  seized  the  guns  and  ammunition,  and  set  the  building  on 
fire. 

The  rioters  knocked  down  Colonel  O'Brien,  of  the  Eleventh  New  York 
Volunteers,  and  dragged  him  by  a  rope  through  the  mud  till  life  was  ex 
tinct.  Riots  were  going  on  in  a  dozen  places  at  once — no  longer  against 
the  draft,  but  for  robbery  and  plunder.  Soldiers  who  had  been  discharged 
from  the  army,  others  who  were  at  home  on  furlough,  together  with  small 
bodies  of  troops  —  five  hundred  in  all — aided  the  police.  All  business 
stopped ;  no  horse-cars  ran ;  merchants  and  bankers  volunteered  to  act  as 
policemen.  Wherever  a  mob  was  encountered  it  was  charged  upon  and 
put  to  flight.  But  the  wild  beast  having  tasted  fresh  blood  thirsts  for 
more,  and  the  rioters,  having  enjoyed  their  unbridled  license,  when  put 
down  in  one  place  congregated  in  another. 

Governor  Seymour  came  from  Albany  and  made  an  unfortunate  speech 
to  the  multitude,  addressing  them  as  "  My  friends."  He  counselled  obe 
dience  to  the  laws,  but  expressed  his  belief  that  the  conscription  was  ille 
gal,  and  announced  his  determination  to  have  it  tested  in  the  courts.  He 
intended  and  desired  to  allay  passion,  and  put  a  stop  to  the  rioting  by 
pleasant  words,  but  he  soon  discovered  that  men  who  were  bent  on  plun 
der  would  not  desist  at  the  request  of  the  governor  of  the  State. 

Nearly  all  the  rioters  were  Irish  men  and  women.    Archbishop  Hughes 


MIDSUMMER,  1863. 


327 


published  through  the  newspapers  a  request  that  they  should  visit  him  at 
his  residence.  A  large  crowd  gathered,  and  he  gave  them  good  advice. 
It  was  not  his  speech  but  bullets  which  put  an  end  to  the  rioting. 
While  he  was  addressing  them  the  New  York  Seventh  Regiment  and 
the  police  were  having  a  battle  with  the  real  rioters,  clearing  the  houses 
in  which  they  had  taken  refuge,  and  putting  an  end  to  their  plundering. 
In  all,  more  than  one  thousand  were  killed,  as  estimated  by  the  police. 
Only  three  policemen  were  killed,  but  many  had  been  seriously  injured. 


DRAGGING    COLONEL    O  BKIEN  S    BODY. 


While  this  was  going  on  in  New  York  those  in  Boston  who  were  ready 
to  resist  the  draft  broke  open  a  gun-shop,  and  obtained  one  hundred  guns 
and  seventy-five  pistols.  They  attempted  to  break  into  another  shop,  but 
were  driven  by  the  police.  Governor  Andrew  and  Mayor  Lincoln  saw 
that  there  was  trouble  ahead,  and  prepared  for  it.  Two  regiments  were 
ordered  under  arms,  and  two  cannon  placed  in  the  armory  on  Cooper 
Street,  commanded  by  Captain  Jones,  who  loaded  them  with  canister, 
and  who  said  to  the  gathering  rioters  that  he  should  fire  upon  them  if  they 
attempted  to  enter. 


328 


MARCHING  TO  VICTORY. 


Evening  came,  and  the  mob  began  to  throw  stones  and  beat  the  doors. 
There  was  one  flash,  and  the  canister  balls  cut  a  path  through  the  crowd, 
ending  the  riot. 

While  the  rioting  was  going  on  in  New  York,  Gen.  John  Morgan,  of 
Kentucky,  who  commanded  a  division  of  cavalry  in  Bragg's  army,  was 
carrying  out  a  bold  plan.  General  Rosecrans  was  at  Murfreesboro,  where 


THE   KIOTE11S   AND   THE   NEW   YORK   SEVENTH   REGIMENT. 

he  had  remained  after  the  battle  of  Stone  River  confronting  Bragg,  who 
was  at  Tullahorna.  General  Burnside  was  at  Cincinnati,  preparing  to  march 
an  army  across  Kentucky  to  East  Tennessee.  General  Bragg  detailed  Mor 
gan  to  make  a  raid  in  rear  of  Rosecrans,  to  destroy  the  railroads,  burn 
bridges,  and  threaten  Louisville,  which  he  thought  would  deter  Burnside 
from  making  his  contemplated  movement.  Morgan  wanted  to  do  more 
than  this.  He  wished  to  make  a  sensation,  and  proposed  to  Bragg  to  reach 
the  Ohio  River,  cross  into  Indiana,  ride  northward  towards  Indianapolis, 
eastward  towards  Cincinnati,  threaten  Hamilton,  Columbus,  and  other  large 
towns,  destroy  the  railroads,  and  recross  into  East  Kentucky  or  West  Vir 
ginia.  Bragg  would  not  consent  to  his  attempting  such  a  raid,  but  gave 


MIDSUMMER,  1863. 


329 


him  liberty  to  go  where  he  pleased  in  Kentucky,  where  he  would  be  at 
home,  and  where  he  would  find  many  friends.  Morgan  deliberately  deter 
mined  to  carry  out  his  own  plan  and  sent  scouts  to  examine  the  fords  of 
the  upper  Ohio.(n)  Just  what  he  intended  to  accomplish,  other  than  the 
execution  of  a  bold,  audacious  movement,  is  not  plain. 

On  the  2d  of  July,  while  the  battle  was  raging  around  Little  Round 
Top  at  Gettysburg,  Morgan  was  crossing  the  Cumberland  River,  in  Ken 
tucky,  at  Burkesville,  moving  towards  Columbia  with  twenty-five  hundred 
men,  all  of  them  bold  riders  and  mounted  on  good  horses.  He  eluded  the 
Union  cavalry  under  General  Judah.  At  Green  River  he  had  a  skirmish 
with  a  Michigan  regiment,  but  avoided  a  battle,  reached  Lebanon,  where 
he  came  suddenly  upon  three  regiments  of  Union  infantry,  captured  nearly 
all,  pressed  on  till  within  thirty  miles  of  Louisville,  capturing  a  train  on 
the  railroad,  reached  the  Ohio  River,  seized  two  steamboats,  and  on  the 


MORGAN'S  RAIDERS. 

evening  of  the  8th  ferried  his  troops  to  the  Indiana  shore.  The  governors 
of  Indiana  and  Ohio  proclaimed  martial  law,  but  the  authorities,  believing 
that  Morgan  would  recross  below  Cincinnati,  sent  troops  in  the  wrong 
direction.  A  body  of  Union  cavalry  under  General  Hobson  was  following 
Morgan,  but  the  Confederates  were  always  a  day's  ride  in  advance,  making 
long  marches,  seizing  fresh  horses,  and  plundering  the  people,  making  no 
distinction  between  U~nion  men  and  Peace  Democrats.  They  broke  open 
stores  and  helped  themselves  to  whatever  pleased  their  fancy — webs  of 


330  MARCHING  TO   VICTORY. 

cloth,  ladies'  bonnets,  dry -goods,  hardware,  bird-cages,  boots,  shoes,  cloth 
ing,  table-cloths,  blankets — carrying  them  a  while,  then  tossing  them  aside 
as  children  throw  away  their  toys  when  tired  of  them.  Not  till  Morgan 
had  passed  to  the  eastward  of  Cincinnati  did  the  authorities  comprehend 
his  intentions ;  but  the  militia  and  troops  sent  out  were  closing  around 
him.  The  light-draft  gunboats  which  patrolled  the  river  made  their  way 
to  the  possible  crossings.  He  reached  the  river  at  Portland,  but  found 
the  Union  troops  upon  him.  There  was  a  battle,  a  charge  by  the  Union 
forces  in  which  a  large  number  of  Confederates  were  captured.  Morgan, 
with  nine  hundred,  reached  the  river  once  more  twenty  miles  farther  up, 
but  a  gunboat  prevented  him  from  crossing.  On  the  26th,  with-' every 
avenue  of  escape  closed,  his  men  worn  down  by  continuous  riding,  want 
of  sleep  and  rest,  and  surrounded  by  the  enemy,  they  surrendered,  and  the 
twenty-five  hundred  were  lost  to  General  Bragg. 

Going  now  across  the  Atlantic,  we  see,  on  the  4th  of  July,  while 
General  Lee  is  preparing  to  leave  the  field  of  Gettysburg,  an  iron-clad 
ship  sliding  into  the  water  of  the  river  Mersey,,  at  Birkenhead,  built  by 
Messrs.  Laird  for  the  Confederate  Government,  and  which  will  in  a  few 
weeks  be  ready  for  sea,  unless  prevented,  cross  the  Atlantic,  and  scatter 
the  blockading  fleet  at  Wilmington  or  Charleston. 

Mr.  Mason,  on  Sunday,  July  10th,  wrote  to  Mr.  Benjamin,  Confederate 
Secretary  of  State : 

"  Our  reports  are  up  to  July  1st.  They  would  seem  to  indicate  that 
Lee  is  perfectly  master  of  the  field  of  his  operations,  both  in  Maryland 
and  Pennsylvania,  and  that  Washington  must  speedily  fall,  with  Baltimore, 
into  his  possession.  Should  this  be  realized  before  Parliament  adjourns, 
I  do  not  think  the  ministry  will  hold  out  against  recognition.  If  they  did 
the  House  of  Commons  would  override  them."(12) 

It  was  while  General  Buford  was  taking  possession  of  Seminary  Ridge, 
at  Gettysburg,  on  the  night  of  June  30th,  that  Roebuck's  motion  for  the 
recognition  of  the  Confederacy  had  been  debated,  but  no  action  taken. 

What  effect  the  news  of  the  victory  at  Gettysburg  and  the  surrender 
had  upon  the  people  of  Great  Britain  who  sympathized  with  the  Confed 
eracy  is  set  forth  by  one  of  the  Confederate  agents  in  London : 

"  The  news  of  the  check  sustained  by  our  forces  at  Gettysburg, 
coupled  with  the  reported  fall  of  Yicksburg,  was  so  unexpected  as  to 
spread  very  general  dismay,  not  only  among  the  active  sympathizers  with 
our  cause,  but  even  among  those  who  take  merely  a  selfish  interest  in  the 
great  struggle.  The  disappointment  was  proportionate  to  the  confidence 


MIDSUMMER,  1863, 

which  had  come  to  be  generally  entertained  that  our  arms  were  about  to 
achieve  the  crowning  triumph  of  peace.  .  .  .  The  news  received  last  night 
(July  22d)  has  somewhat  reassured  the  shaken  confidence  in  our  ultimate 
success,  but  all  is  still  perplexity,  surprise,  and  alarm. "(13) 

Another  Confederate  wrote : 

"  The  unexpected  reverses  to  our  arms  must,  of  course,  essentially  mod 
ify  our  situation  abroad  as  well  as  our  action  in  relation  to  it.  I  cannot 
disguise  from  you  the  deep  discouragement  inflicted  on  our  friends  by  so 
sudden  a  change  of  position  from  invading  conquerors  to  hard-pressed  de 
fenders  in  their  own  stronghold,  which  was  the  attitude  suddenly  given 
to  the  belligerents  two  weeks  ago  (June  30th),  when  all  Europe  watched 
for  the  triumphant  entry  of  General  Lee  into  the  city  of  Washington. 
Many  among  ourselves  held  the  same  high  hope,  and  had  no  apprehen 
sions  for  Yicksburg.  You  may  readily  imagine  the  force  of  the  recoil 
from  two  such  stunning  blows  received  at  the  same  time  without  warn 
ing  or  preparation.  The  public  sentiment,  both  in  England  and  France, 
recoiled  from  blind  confidence  in  our  immediate  success  to  a  belief  in 
the  success  of  the  North  and  its  scheme  of  subjugation.  The  Confed 
erate  loan,  which  is  our  barometer,  fell  at  once  twenty  per  cent,  below 

par."(") 

Mr.  Mason,  who,  on  June  30th,  in  imagination  beheld  General  Lee 
marching  triumphantly  into  Washington  and  the  British  Parliament  rec 
ognizing  the  Confederacy,  saw  things  under  a  different  light  when  he 
penned  his  next  letter  to  the  Confederate  Secretary  of  State : 

"The  hopes  and  expectations  of  our  friends  in  Europe,"  he  wrote, 
"  have  been  much  depressed  by  the  late  intelligence  from  the  South,  one 
marked  effect  of  which  has  been  on  the  loan,  quoted  yesterday,  August 
5th,  as  low  as  thirty  per  cent,  discount.  The  fortunes  of  the  late  loan 
will  preclude  any  other  for  the  present."(15) 

From  Paris  Mr.  Slidell  sent  this  to  Mr.  Benjamin : 

"  Since  my  last  we  have  the  unpleasant  intelligence  of  the  retreat  of 
General  Lee  across  the  Potomac  and  the  surrender  of  Yicksburg  and  Port 
Hudson.  For  the  latter  event  we  were  not  prepared,  and,  as  you  may 
suppose,  they  cannot  fail  to  exercise  an  unfavorable  influence  on  the  ques 
tion  of  recognition. "(I6) 

I  have  said  that  when  Vincent's  brigade  and  Hazlett's  battery,  on  the 
evening  of  July  2d,  were  holding  Little  Round  Top,  when  McGilvery's 
guns  were  flaming  along  Cemetery  Ridge,  when  Willard's  brigade  and 
the  First  Minnesota  Regiment  advanced  into  the  meadow  by  Codori's 
house  in  the  twilight  of  that  eventful  day,  it  was  the  hour  which  marked 


332  MARCHING  TO  VICTORY. 

the  high  tide  of  the  Confederacy ;  that  on  the  afternoon  of  the  following 
day,  when  all  that  was  left  of  Pickett's  division  drifted  back  over  those 
fields,  it  was  the  beginning  of  the  ebb-tide.  Of  the  decisiveness  of  that 
conflict  this  the  estimate  of  an  English  historian : 

"  Mr.  Adams  was  satisfied  that  the  fate  of  Mr.  Koebuck's  motion  would 
depend  on  the  military  events  of  a  few  days.  He  was  right.  The  motion 
was  never  pressed  to  a  decision ;  for  during  its  progress  there  came  at  one 
moment  the  news  that  General  Grant  had  taken  Vicksburg,  on  the  Missis 
sippi,  and  that  General  Meade  had  defeated  General  Lee  at  Gettysburg, 
and  put  an  end  to  all  thought  of  a  Southern  invasion.  The  news  at  first 
was  received  with  resolute  incredulity  in  London  by  the  advocates  and 
partisans  of  the  South.  In  some  of  the  clubs  there  was  positive  indigna 
tion  that  such  things  should  be  reported.  The  outburst  of  wrath  was  nat 
ural.  That  was  the  turning-point  of  the  war,  although  not  many  saw  it. 
The  South  never  had  a  chance  after  that  hour."(17) 

So  Gettysburg  and  Vicksburg  together  became  pivotal  points  in  the 
history  of  our  country  and  in  the.  history  of  human  affairs. 


NOTES  TO. CHAPTER  XV. 

(  J)  Richmond  Examiner,  July  25,  1863 

( ')  Idem,  July  9, 1863. 

( 3)  Richmond  Sentinel,  July  18,  1863. 

(  4)  Charleston  Mercury,  July  24, 1863. 

(  5)  Demond  Address,  Alumni  Williams  College,  1865. 

( 6)  Idem. 

( 7)  Rev.  Mr.  Auley,  Report  of  Christian  Association,  Chicago,  1865. 

( 8)  Harper's  Weekly,  July  25, 1863. 

( 9)  New  York  Herald,  July  6, 1863. 

(10)  Idem,  July  14, 1863. 

(")  Duke,  "  History  of  Morgan's  Cavalry,"  pp.  409,  411,  429. 

(12)  Mason  to  Benjamin,  unpublished  papers  (War  Department),  July  23,  1863. 

(13)  Hotze  to  Benjamin,  unpublished  papers  (War  Department),  July  23,  1863. 
(H)  Idem,  August  3,  1863. 

(15)  Mason  to  Benjamin,  unpublished  papers  (War  Department),  August  5th,  1863. 

(16)  Slidell  to  Benjamin,  unpublished  papers  (War  Department),  August  5th,  1863, 
(")  Justin  McCarthy,  "  History  of  Our  Own  Times,"  vol.  iii.,  p.  327. 


ASSAULT  ON  FOBT   WAGNER. 


333 


CHAPTER  XYI. 

ASSAULT   OX   FORT  WAGNER. 

FROM  Morris  Island,  commanding  the  main  channel  leading  into 
Charleston  harbor,  had  been  fired  the  first  hostile  shot  in  the  war — 
1861.  It  turned  back  the  Star  of  the  West,  which  was  carrying  provisions 
to  the  beleaguered  garrison  of  Sumter.  Slave-gangs  threw  up  the  breast 
works  of  the  batteries  which  had  rained  solid  shot  and  shells  upon  Sumter, 
inaugurating  the  conflict  between  the  Confederate  and  the  loyal  States. 
During  1862  other  gangs  of  slaves  had  constructed  a  formidable  fortifica 
tion  amid  the  sand-hills — Fort  Wagner,  mounted  with  heavy  guns,  planned 
to  prevent  any  Union  force  from  gaining  a  position  on  the  island,  from 
which  Union  cannon  in  turn  could  rain  their  iron  bolts  upon  Sumter. 


FORT   WAGNER,   FROM   THE   CHANNEL. 

Gen.  Quincy  A.  Gillmore,  who  had  battered  down  Fort  Pulaski,  guard 
ing  the  entrance  to  Savannah  River,  had  been  appointed  by  President 
Lincoln  to  command  the  department.  He  was  a  skilful  engineer.  He 
was  in  possession  of  Folly  Island,  a  long  and  narrow  range  of  sand-hills, 
separated  from  Morris  Island  by  Light-house  Inlet,  leading  inland  to  a 
series  of  intricate  water-ways.  South  of  Folly  Island  was  Stono  River. 


334  MAECHING   TO   VICTORY. 

Between  Stono  Inlet  and  the  intricate  water-ways  is  James  Island,  on 
which  the  Confederates  had  erected  strong  earthworks.  Fort  Wagner  was 
half  a  mile  south  of  Cumming's  Point,  the  northern  end  of  Morris  Island, 
and  three  miles  north  of  Light-house  Inlet. 

General  Gillmore  came  to  the  conclusion  that  if  he  could  get  posses 
sion  of  the  southern  end  of  Morris  Island  he  might  in  time  possibly  get 
possession  of  Fort  Wagner,  which  was  built  of  earth  and  mounted  ten 
guns ;  but  there  were  earthworks  at  the  southern  end  of  the  island  which 
must  first  be  captured. 

A  lookout  tower  was  erected,  from  the  top  of  which  General  Gillmore 
surveyed  Morris  Island.  He  decided  to  get  possession  of  the  lower  end 
of  it,  then  carry  Wagner  by  assault  if  possible ;  but  in  case  of  failure  he 
would  begin  siege  operations.  After  gaining  it  he  would  erect  batteries, 
and  assail  Sumter  and  bombard  Charleston.  Public  sentiment  in  the 
North  demanded  that  there  should  be  no  cessation  of  effort  till  the  old 
flag  should  wave  once  more  over  Sumter.  In  a  military  point  of  view,  it 
was  not  a  wise  expenditure  of  strength ;  but  in  obedience  to  public  senti 
ment  the  operations  began. 

All  the  preliminary  labor  was  done  in  secret.  Soldiers  were  at  work 
in  the  night  with  shovels  building  breastworks  behind  a  piece  of  woods, 
wholly  concealed  from  the  Confederates.  The  artillerymen  dragged  heavy 
guns  through  the  sand,  and  placed  them  in  position.  A  road  was  cut 
through  the  woods,  brush  laid  along  a  path-way  and  covered  with  earth, 
that  no  rumbling  of  cannon-wheels  might  reach  the  ears  of  the  enemy. 

The  troops  under  General  Gillmore  erected  two  siege-batteries  in  sev 
enteen  days,  one  twelve  hundred  yards  and  the  other  twenty-two  hundred 
yards  from  the  Confederate  batteries,  and  had  forty-seven  guns  and  mor 
tars  in  position  to  open  fire.  In  Folly  River  were  all  the  boats  General 
Gillmore  could  obtain — enough  to  carry  General  Strong's  brigade,  which 
was  to  land  on  Morris  Island,  while  General  Terry  was  to  make  a  demon 
stration  upon  James  Island. 

On  the  afternoon  of  the  9th  Strong's  brigade  marched  to  the  boats, 
and  as  soon  as  it  was  dark  rowed  up  Folly  River  to  the  entrance  of  Light 
house  Creek.  The  reeds  and  grasses  along  the  marshes  were  so  tall  and 
rank  that  no  Confederate  saw  them.  No  word  was  spoken.  The  senti 
nels  and  pickets  heard  only  the  cry  of  the  sea-fowl.  It  was  a  night  of 
painful  silence  to  the  soldiers  sitting  in  the  boats  waiting  for  the  dawn  of 
day,  for  they  were  within  easy  range  of  a  battery  of  eight  guns  and  three 
mortars.  Daylight  was  streaming  up  the  east  when,  greatly  to  the  sur 
prise  of  the  Confederates  holding  the  batteries  at  the  lower  end  of  Morris 


ASSAULT  ON  FORT  WAGNER.  337 

Island,  the  Union  cannon  on  Folly  Island  opened  fire.  A  few  moments 
later  came  the  roar  of  the  greafr  guns  of  four  monitors  which  had  crossed 
Charleston  bar  and  taken  position  to  enfilade  the  Confederate  batteries. 
It  was  half-past  six  when  General  Strong  saw  a  signal  waved  from  the 
Union  lines,  and  then  the  oars  dipped  the  water  and  the  boats  moved 
on.  The  Confederates  discovered  them  and  opened  fire.  The  boats  soon 
grounded  on  the  mud-flats. 

"  Come  on !"  shouted  General  Strong.  With  him  men  of  the  Sixth 
Connecticut  leaped  out.Q  The  commander  lost  a  boot  in  the  mud,  but 
not  stopping  to  regain  it,  led  the  men,  with  only  a  stocking  on  one  foot, 
charging  upon  the  Confederate  rifle-pits.  The  other  regiments  landed, 
formed,  and  rushed  upon  the  batteries,  capturing  twelve  guns,  one  hundred 
prisoners,  arid  all  the  camp  equipage.  By  ten  o'clock  General  Gillrnore 
was  in  possession  of  the  lower  end  of  the  island. 

Fort  Wagner  extended  from  the  sea-beach  across  the  island  to  the 
marshes  of  Vincent's  Creek,  a-  distance  of  six  hundred  feet.  It  had  two 
bastions,  one  on  the  sea-side,  with  two  faces,  one  fronting  the  sea,  to  meet 
the  fire  of  the  ships,  the  other  fronting  the  land  approach.  The  second 
bastion  was  on  the  west  side — both  provided  with  shelter  for  the  garrison 
from  the  bombs  fired  by  the  mortar-boats.  It  was  a  strong  fortress,  upon 
which  great  labor  had  been  expended  by  slaves,  the  Confederates  well 
comprehending  that  so  long  as  they  could  hold  it  General  Gill  more  would 
not  be  able  to  get  at  Fort  Surnter. 

There  was  consternation  in  Charleston  over  the  information  that  the 
Union  troops  had  effected  a  lodgment  on  Morris  Island. 

"The  fall  of  Fort  Wagner,"  said  one  of  the  Charleston  newspapers, 
"  ends  in  the  fall  of  Charleston.  Fort  Sumter,  like  Fort  Wagner,  will 
then  be  assailable  by  land  and  sea."(2) 

The  governor  of  the  State  issued  a  call  to  the  planters  to  send  their 
slaves  to  construct  additional  fortifications,  making  earnest  personal  ap 
peals  to  them. 

The  Mayor  of  Charleston  issued  a  proclamation  calling  upon  the  citi 
zens  "to  suspend  business  till  the  safety  of  the  city  was  assured,"  and 
ordered  that  all  male  negroes  and  mulattoes  between  the  ages  of  eighteen 
and  sixty  be  conscripted  for  work  on  the  fortifications. (3) 

General  Gill  more  knew  nothing  of  the  strength  of  Wagner,  how  for 
midable  a  fortress  it  was,  that  there  were  thirteen  guns  of  large  size  mostly 
for  firing  shells  and  grape  and  canister.  He  did  not  know  that  the  ditch 
in  front  was  waist-deep  with  water  kept  there  by  a  gate  which  opened 
when  the  tide  came  in  and  closed  when  it  began  to  go  out.  Nor  did  he 


338  MARCHING  TO   VICTORY. 

know  that  sharpened  stakes  were  driven  into  the  sand  for  chevaux-de- 
frise — that  planks  with  iron  spikes  were  laid  along  the  glacis  of  the  fort. 
Not  knowing  how  strong  it  was,  he  selected  only  three  regiments  to 
assault  it.  The  sun  was  rising  on  the  morning  of  the  llth  when  the 
Seventh  Connecticut,  followed  by  the  Ninth  Maine  and  the  Seventy-sixth 
Pennsylvania,  went  upon  the  double-quick  across  the  sand,  driving  in  the 
Confederate  pickets.  They  reached  the  ditch,  firing  no  volley,  but  charg 
ing  with  the  bayonet  up  the  slope  of  the  work,  only  to  be  cut  to  pieces 
and  driven  back,  with  a  loss  of  more  than  three  hundred,  while  the  Con 
federate  loss  was  scarcely  a  dozen.  It  was  a  blind  assault,  attempted  with 
out  knowledge  of  the  strength  of  the  fort  or  the  garrison  within  it — on 
that  morning  exceeding  twelve  hundred. 

On  the  16th  General  Terry  made  an  assault  upon  the  works  on  James 
Island,  but  was  repulsed,  and  General  Gillrnore  ordered  him  to  join  Gen 
eral  Strong  on  Morris  Island.  An  arrangement  was  made  with  the  fleet 
for  a  combined  bombardment  of  Wagner,  to  dismount  its  guns  and  demor 
alize  the  garrison. 

It  was  nearly  eight  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  July  18th  when  the 
monitors,  the  New  Ironsides,  and  several  gunboats  steamed  slowly  up  the 
channel  and  opened  fire.  The  vessels  moved  in  a  circle,  thus  lessening 
the  chances  of  being  injured.  The  land  batteries  and  mortars  opened  at 
the  same  time.  The  thunder  of  the  cannonade  was  heard  at  Edgefield, 
one  hundred  and  thirty  miles  distant.  At  noon  the  monitors  ceased  firing 
that  the  men  might  rest.  Inside  the  iron  turrets  the  heat  on  that  mid- 
dummer  day,  from  the  sun  and  the  firing;  was  very  exhausting ;  but  after 
an  hour's  rest  the  men  sprang  once  more  to  the  guns.  Upon  the  house 
tops  and  in  the  belfries  of  the  churches  were  the  people  of  Charleston — 
men  and  women — watching  the  distant  spectacle.  This  the  scene  as  pict 
ured  by  one  of  the  citizens : 

"  Gray  old  Sumter  lay  like  a  half-aroused  monster  midway  the  scene, 
only  occasionally  speaking  his  part  in  the  angry  dialogue.  Far  in  the 
distance  lay  the  blockaders,  taking  no  part  in  the  fray.  To  the  right,  on 
Cumming's  Point,  was  a  little  mound  of  earth,  and  every  now  and  then  we 
could  see  a  band  of  artillerists  around  the  guns,  a  volume  of  smoke,  and 
far  to  the  right  exploding  in  the  vicinity  of  the  enemy's  batteries  its  well- 
aimed  shells.  Still  to  the  right  of  this  was  Wagner,  clustered  above  which, 
now  bursting  high  in  air,  now  striking  the  sides  of  the  work,  and  now 
plunging  through  the  sand  on  the  beach  and  throwing  up  a  pillar  of  earth, 
or  dashing  into  the  marsh  and  ricochetting  across  the  water,  could  be  seen 
the  quickly  succeeding  shells  and  round-shot  of  the  enemy's  guns  abreast 


ASSAULT  ON  FORT  WAGNER. 


341 


of  "Wagner.  Still  farther  to  the  right,  but  concealed  from  view  by  the 
trees  on  James  Island,  were  the  land  batteries  of  the  enemy,  whose  loca 
tion  we  only  knew  by  the  heavy  puffs  of  smoke  that  shot  suddenly  into 
the  air,  then  drifted  away."(4) 

General  Gillmore,  General  Seymour,  and  General  Strong,  all  three 
believed  that  the  fort  could  be  successfully  assaulted ;  that  the  bombard 
ment  had  demoralized  the  Confederates,  and  probably  dismounted  most 
of  the  cannon.  Colonel  Putnam  did  not  think  so,  but  that  the  Confed 
erates  had  been  protected  in  their  bomb-proof  shelter;  that  to  make 
the  attack  at  night,  as  proposed,  would  end  in  disaster.  In  the  dark- 


MORTAR  BATTERY  BEFORE   WAGNER. 

From  a  sketch  of  the  time. 


ness  the  troops  would  become  confused  by  the  obstacles  they  would  en 
counter  and  the  fire  that  would  be  poured  upon  them,  and  they  would  not 
be  able  to  distinguish  friend  from  foe.  The  weight  of  opinion  was  against 
him.  "  We  are  going  into  Wagner  like  a  flock  of  sheep,"  he  said.(5)  Who 
should  lead  ?  What  regiment  should  be  selected  first  to  meet  the  fiery 
storm  ?  There  were  three  brigades — General  Strong's,  General  Steven 
son's,  and  Colonel  Putnam's — thirteen  regiments.  General  Strong's  bri 
gade  was  composed  of  the  Sixth  Connecticut,  Forty-eighth  New  York, 
Third  New  Hampshire,  Ninth  Maine,  and  Seventy-sixth  Pennsylvania.  It 
was  at  the  head  of  the  column  on  the  sea-beach.  Behind  it  stood  Put 
nam's  brigade — the  Seventh  New  Hampshire,  One  Hundredth  New  York, 
Sixty-second  and  Sixty-seventh  Ohio.  Stevenson's  brigade  was  to  be  held 


342 


MARCHING  TO  VICTORY. 


>      \ 


COL.   ROBERT  G.   SHAW. 


in  reserve.  It  was  past  six  o'clock.  The  mortars  and  the  frigate  New 
Ironsides  were  still  sending  their  shells  into  the  fort.  The  soldiers  saw 
a  long  column  of  men  marching  across  the  sand-hills  from  the  west,  with 
the  Stars  and  Stripes  flying  above  them,  and  the  white  flag  of  the  State  of 
Massachusetts,  with  its  seal  of  an  Indian  and  an  out-stretched  arm  grasping 
a  sword,  bearing  the  legend,  "Ense  petit  placidam  sub  libertate  quietem" 
— seeking  calm  peace  by  the  sword. 

It  was  the  Fifty-fourth  Massachusetts,  a  regiment  of  colored  soldiers 
recruited  in  Boston,  commanded  by  Col.  Robert  Gr.  Shaw,  who  had  been 


ASSAULT  ON  FORT  WAGNER.  343 

selected  by  Governor  Andrew  of  that  State  to  command  tins  first  regi 
ment  of  colored  troops,  regularly  authorized  by  the  Secretary  of  War 
from  a  State  east  of  the  Mississippi.  I  saw  the  regiment  upon  Boston 
Common  when  it  received  its  colors  from  the  hand  of  the  governor.  It 
was  on  a  beautiful  afternoon  in  May.  Thousands  of  people  had  gathered 
to  see  them — some  to  laugh  and  sneer,  others  to  respect  and  applaud. 
Those  who  sneered  predicted  that  they  never  would  fight  a  battle,  but 
would  scatter  like  sheep  at  the  sound  of  the  first  hostile  shot ;  those  who 
applauded  hoped,  possibly  believed,  that  they  would  be  brave  and  manly 
in  battle. 

"  I  know  not,"  said  Governor  Andrew,  as  he  placed  the  colors  of  the 
State  in  their  keeping,  "  when  in  all  human  history  to  any  one  thousand 
men  in  arms  there  has  been  given  a  work  so  proud,  so  precious,  so  full  of 
hope  and  glory  as  the  work  committed  to  you." 

Some  of  them  had  been  slaves,  sold  on  the  auction-block.  The  Supreme 
Court  of  the  United  States,  through  Chief-justice  Roger  B.  Taney,  before 
the  war,  had  declared  that  the  son  of  a  slave  mother  could  not  be  a  citizen, 
and  therefore  had  no  rights  under  the  laws.  The  Peace  Democrats  hated 
them  because  they  were  negroes.  The  majority  of  the  people  in  the 
Northern  States  had  been  prejudiced  against  them.  For  them  there  was 
no  seat  in  the  upholstered  car  of  a  railroad;  no  place  at  the  public  table 
of  a  hotel ;  no  bed  except  in  the  loft  of  a  tavern-stable  or  the  lumber- 
room  of  a  garret ;  for  them  no  place  in  church  except  in  some  far-off 
seat  in  the  gallery.  So  intense  the  prejudice  that  many  officers  objected 
to  their  employment  as  soldiers.  Politicians  and  "  Copperheads "  were 
doing  their  utmost  to  arouse  hostility  to  the  colored  race.  Many  peo 
ple  who  had  favored  the  war  turned  against  President  Lincoln  because 
he  had  consented  to  their  employment  as  soldiers. 

As  representatives  of  a  despised  race,  a  great  hour  had  come  to  this 
regiment.  It  had  been  in  General  Terry's  command,  and  the  men  had 
exhibited  in  some  degree  their  soldier-like  qualities  on  June  10th,  when 
attacked  by  a  large  force  of  Confederates,  holding  them  in  check,  and 
saving  the  Tenth  Connecticut  from  capture.  They  had  been  ordered  to 
Morris  Island,  had  been  marching  all  day  across  the  sands  of  Folly  Island, 
in  the  sweltering  heat,  without  rations.  They  reached  the  sea-beach — six 
hundred  of  them — in  the  twilight  of  the  sultry  summer  evening. 

General  Seymour  was  to  conduct  the  assault,  and  decided  that  they 
should  lead.  These  his  reasons :  "  It  was  in  every  respect  as  efficient  as 
any  other  body  of  men  ;  and  as  it  was  one  of  the  strongest  and  best  offi 
cered,,  there  seemed  to  be  no  good  reason  why  it  should  not  be  selected  for 


344  MARCHING   TO    VICTORY. 

the  advance.  This  point  was  decided  by  General  Strong  and  myself."  Of 
officers  there  were  Colonel  Shaw,  Lieutenant-colonel  Hallowell,  and  Adju 
tant  James,  seven  captains  and  twelve  lieutenants,  also  the  surgeon  and 
quartermaster. 

During  the  week  after  the  first  assault  the  Confederates  in  "Wagner 
had  been  hard  at  work  to  make  the  fort  still  stronger.  The  garrison  had 
been  increased  to  seventeen  hundred  men  under  General  Taliaferro,  who 
had  assigned  each  company  to  its  appointed  position,  and  who  had  drilled 
them  to  run  helter-skelter  from  the  bomb-proof,  each  man  to  his  place  along 
the  breastworks,  and  to  be  ready  in  a  moment  after  a  given  signal  to  repel 
an  attacking  force.  In  all,  there  were  thirteen  large  cannon  and  six  pieces 
of  field  artillery — howitzers  which  could  be  loaded  and  fired  rapidly,  and 
placed  to  sweep  the  ditch  outside  the  fort  with  grape  and  canister.  While 
the  bombardment  was  going  on  the  Confederates  were  beneath  their  bomb 
proof. 

The  men  of  the  Fifty- fourth  Massachusetts  were  resting  after  their 
tiresome  march.  Officers  were  riding  here  and  there  carrying  orders.  Gen 
eral  Strong,  in  full  uniform,  came  to  the  regiment  and  informed  the  sol 
diers  that  they  were  to  have  the  honor  of  leading  the  charge.  Were  they 
ready  to  do  so  ?  "  We  are  ready,"  they  replied,  and  at  the  word  of  com 
mand  dressed  their  ranks  as  if  upon  parade. 

It  is  not  clear  just  what  General  Seymour's  plans  were  in  regard  to 
the  attack.  There  was  the  fort ;  its  guns  silent,  the  earthworks  torn  by 
the  bombardment.  Manifestly  an  assaulting  column  must  be  strong  enough 
to  remove  the  obstructions  in  front,  cross  the  ditch,  climb  the  parapet,  and 
overwhelm  those  within.  It  was  reasonable  to  suppose  that  this  could  not 
be  accomplished  by  a  single  regiment,  and  that  other  troops  should  be 
close  at  hand  to  swarm  over  the  works  and  outnumber  the  Confederates. 
Whatever  was  to  be  done  must  be  accomplished  at  once ;  it  must  be  an  as 
sault  so  aggressive  and  powerful — a  blow  given  with  such  force  that  noth 
ing  could  stand  before  it.  Unless  so  made,  it  ought  not  to  be  attempted. 
It  was  known  that  there  was  a  chevaux-de-frise,  that  there  was  a  line  of 
stakes  along  the  beach  to  obstruct  an  advancing  column  ;  and  it  was  rea 
sonable  to  suppose  that  unless  men  were  selected  to  remove  the  obstacles 
the  column  would  be  thrown  into  confusion ;  but  no  details  were  made  to 
do  the  work  of  pioneers. 

How  should  the  attack  be  made  —  with*  loaded  muskets  or  with  the 
bayonet  alone  ?  When  Anthony  Wayne  stormed  Stony  Point,  on  the  Hud 
son,  during  the  Revolutionary  War,  at  night,  his  troops  marched  with  un 
loaded  muskets.  He  would  have  no  shooting  of  his  own  men  by  mistake 


ASSAULT   ON   FORT  WAGNER.  345 

in  the  darkness.  The  bayonet  alone  won  the  victory.  Instead  of  this,  the 
columns  of  men  in  front  of  Wagner  stood  with  loaded  muskets.  Behind 
the  Fifty -fourth  Massachusetts  were  the  Sixth  Connecticut,  then  the 
Ninth  Maine,  Forty-eighth  New  York,  and  Seventy-sixth  Pennsylvania, 
and  then  Putnam's  brigade. 

The  sun  had  gone  down.  The  monitors  were  still  firing.  Sumter  was 
sending  its  shells  down  the  beach  upon  the  dark  outline  of  men.  A  thun 
der-storm  was  rising  landward — the  lightning  illumining  all  the  western 
landscape,  and  the  thunder  rolling  far  away.  Seaward,  a  thick  haze  was 
settling  over  the  harbor,  through  which  could  be  dimly  seen  the  vessels  of 
the  blockading  fleet  rising  and  falling  upon  the  long  and  heavy  swells  of 
the  ocean.  At  a  signal  the  monitors  ceased  their  fire,  and  the  Union  bat 
teries  became  suddenly  silent.  General  Strong,  in  full  uniform,  rides  in 
front  of  the  Fifty-fourth  Massachusetts,  and  addresses  them  briefly ;  (7)  their 
beloved  Colonel  Shaw  walks  along  the  lines  as  calmly  as  upon  parade. 
Three-fourths  of  a  mile  away,  dimly  seen  in  the  gathering  darkness,  floats 
the  Confederate  flag. 

"  Attention !"  The  men  who  have  been  sold  as  slaves  stand  erect. 
"  Forward  !"  The  commander  who  speaks  the  word  is  in  advance,  and  sets 
his  face  towards  Wagner.  He  will  not  ask  them  to  go  where  he  is  not 
ready  to  lead ;  they  are  willing  to  follow  wherever  he  may  go.  The  way 
narrows  as  they  advance,  till  the  men  on  the  right  are  crowded  down  upon 
the  beach  and  walk  in  the  white-fringed  ripples. 

"  We  shall  take  the  fort,  or  die !"  These  are  the  parting  words  of 
Colonel  Shaw  to  his  next  in  command,  Lieutenant-colonel  Hallowell. 

The  regiment  moves  on  alone,  those  of  Strong's  and  Putnam's  brigades 
remaining  in  columns  on  the  beach,  awaiting  orders  from  General  Sey 
mour.^)  Why  they  were  thus  held,  why  the  colored  troops  were  sent  for 
ward  alone,  has  never  been  explained.  Why  six  hundred  men  should  have 
been  ordered  to  assault  a  fortress  held  by  seventeen  hundred,  or  what 
General  Seymour  intended  by  such  a  plan  of  action,  is  not  known.  In 
the  first  assault  three  regiments  had  been  hurled  back,  but  the  men  move 
on,  little  knowing  how  terrible  a  storm  is  to  burst  upon  them.  Suddenly 
the  embrasures  of  Wagner  are  sheets  of  flame,  and  a  line  of  light  runs 
along  the  parapet.  The  air  is  thick  with  grape  and  canister  and  musket- 
balls.  Lieutenant-colonel  Hallowell,  Captain  Willard,  and  Adjutant  James 
go  down,  and  Lieutenant  Thomas  is  whirled  to  the  ground  by  a  shot 
through  the  shoulder.(9) 

On  through  the  gloom  and  deadly  tempest  rush  the  soldiers,  following 
their  beloved  commander ;  down  into  the  moat,  through  the  water,  up  the 


346  MARCHING  TO  VICTORY. 

glacis  of  the  south-eastern  bastion,  with  the  enfilading  cannon  and  howit 
zers  belching  grape  and  canister  into  their  ranks.  By  the  lightnings  of 
heaven  and  the  cannon-flashes  the  men  see  their  comrades  falling.  In  ad 
vance  of  all  is  Colonel  Shaw.  He  crosses  the  ditch,  followed  by  the  two 
color-bearers.  Together  they  climb  the  glacis  and  stand  outlined  on  the 
parapet  by  the  lightnings,  Shaw  waving  his  sword.  Amid  the  uproar  the 
men  hear  him  shouting,  "  Come  on !"  And  then  the  form  goes  down,  and 
the  voice  is  hushed  evermore.  The  color- bearers  are  still  there,  and  the 
men  rush  up  the  glacis  and  fire  into  the  faces  of  the  Confederates.  But 
the  struggle  on  the  parapet  is  soon  over.  There  is  no  supporting  column 
at  hand  to  leap  down  into  the  bastion,  and  by  the  force  of  numbers  drive 
the  Confederates.  General  Strong's  brigade  has  not  started.  Sheltered 
in  part,  the  men  of  the  Fifty-fourth  fire  into  the  embrasures,  driving 
the  Confederates  from  the  cannon,  and  they  in  turn  toss  grenades  and 
lighted  shells  over  the  parapet.  One  member  of  the  Fifty-fourth,  with 
his  left  arm  shattered  and  bleeding,  lies  in  the  sand,  but  with  his  right 
hand  piles  his  cartridges  upon  his  breast  that  his  comrades  may  seize  them 
and  load  and  fire  more  rapidly.  The  color-bearers  are  shot  down,  and  for 
a  moment  the  colors  lie  upon  the  breastwork.  The  living  seize  the  staves, 
but  one  of  the  dead  bearers  is  lying  upon  his  flag,  and  in  the  effort  to  save 
it  it  is  torn  from  the  staff.  Sergeant  Carney,  though  wounded,  still  clings 
to  his  colors.  Colonel,  lieutenant-colonel,  adjutant,  and  every  captain,  ex 
cepting  Captain  Emilio,  have  been  killed  or  wounded.  More  than  one- 
third  of  the  men  have  fallen.  How  long  it  has  been,  those  who  partici 
pated  cannot  determine.  Men  live  fast  at  such  a  moment,  when  all  the 
energy  of  life  is  concentrated  into  a  supreme  effort.  Whether  it  was  half 
an  hour  or  an  hour,  even  those  who  stood  in  column  on  the  beach,  and 
those  who  were  on  the  sand-hills  a  mile  away,  are  not  agreed.  Those 
who  still  stood  there  illumining  the  darkness  by  their  flashing  muskets 
knew  that  their  effort  had  failed,  but  they  resolutely  remained  to  take  part 
in  the  melee  when  the  supports  should  come — riot  their  supports.  The 
time  had  gone  by  for  supports  to  them.  Not  till  only  a  remnant  was 
left  —  not  till  the  whole  aggressive  force  of  the  six  hundred  had  been 
wasted — was  the  order  issued  for  the  advance  of  Strong's  brigade. 

"  Column  forward  !  Double  quick  !"  The  brigade,  in  column  of  com 
panies,  went  up  the  beach — the  Sixth  Connecticut  leading.  This  the  ac 
count  of  one  who  participated  in  the  assault : 

"  When  we  had  gone  twelve  hundred  yards,  and  the  head  of  the 
column  was  almost  to  the  ditch,  suddenly  the  parapets  were  alive  with 
men.  They  yelled,  they  fired  all  their  muskets  and  their  cannon  straight 


ASSAULT  ON  FORT  WAGNER.  347 

in  our  faces.  It  was  as  if  the  deepest  hell  had  vomited  its  hottest  fires 
upon  you.  It  was  as  light  as  day,  and  that  noble  column  reeled  and 
surged  and  fell,  shot  through  with  grape  and  canister  and  shrapnel.  Oh, 
it  was  pitiful !  The  air  was  on  fire  everywhere,  and  the  fire  seemed  to 
have  voices  that  now  moaned,  and  now  cheered,  and  now  cried  with  pain. 
The  dead  and  the  dying  were  piled  in  heaps  far  up  that  fatal  slope  ;  the 
sea  moaned ;  the  thunder  muttered  in  the  sky.  It  grew  dark  suddenly,  and 
the  eye  of  God  saw  the  survivors  of  that  shattered  column  pushing  on  tow 
ards  the  fort.  Here  was  one,  there  another ;  ten  steps  away  a  third — all  that 
were  left  standing  of  the  solid  columns  that  had  melted  away  in  the  fires ; 
but  they  did  not  halt,  they  did  not  retreat — they  pressed  on.  Those  in  the 
rear  followed  them,  trampling  down  their  dead  and  dying  comrades,  stum 
bling  over  the  wire  entanglements  as  they  rushed  in  the  dark  towards  the 
fort We  reached  the  moat,  crossed  it.  Many  fell  under  the  terrible  en 
filades,  others  impaled  their  feet  on  the  spikes  and  blades  of  steel ;  but  the 
rest  climbed  up  that  first  bank,  and  step  by  step,  with  swords  drawn  and 
bayonets  fixed,  without  the  firing  of  a  single  shot,  without  speaking  a 
single  word,  drove  the  enemy  back,  captured  their  guns,  their  magazines, 
followed  them,  as  they  fled  in  terror  across  the  enclosure,  drove  them  over 
the  superior  slope,  and  at  last,  a  mere  handful  of  them — all  that  remained 
of  the  fighting  brigade  —  stood  triumphant  upon  the  parapets,  and  the 
strongest  bastion  of  Wagner  was  taken.  Then  there  rang  a  great  shout  of 
victory  over  the  sea."(10) 

The  Confederate  commander  says  of  the  attack : 

"  As  the  assaulting  columns  came  on  they  were  met  by  the  withering 
volleys  of  McKethan's  direct  and  Gaillard's  cross  fire,  and  by  the  direct 
discharge  of  the  shell-guns,  supplemented  by  the  frightful  enfilading  dis 
charges  of  the  lighter  guns  upon  the  right  and  left.  It  was  terrible,  but 
with  unsurpassed  gallantry  the  Federal  soldiers  breasted  the  storm  and 
rushed  onward  to  the  glacis.  The  Confederates,  with  the  tenacity  of 
bull-dogs,  and  a  fierce  courage  aroused  almost  to  madness  by  the  fright 
ful  inaction  to  which  they  had  been  subjected,  poured  from  the  ramparts 
and  embrasures  sheets  of  flame  and  a  tempest  of  lead  and  iron.  Yet 
their  intrepid  assailants  rushed  on  like  the  waves  of  the  sea  by  whose 
shore  they  fought.  They  fell  by  hundreds,  but  they  pushed  on,  reeling 
under  the  frightful  blasts  that  almost  blew  them  to  pieces,  up  to  the  Con 
federate  bayonets.  The  south-east  bastion  was  weakly  defended,  and  into 
it  a  considerable  body  of  the  enemy  made  their  way."(n) 

Colonel  Putnam  had  been  ordered  by  General  Gillmore  to  remain 
where  he  was,  but  he  could  see  the  guns  flashing  in  the  darkness,  and  he 


34:8  MARCHING  TO  VICTORY. 

knew  that  General  Strong  needed  assistance,  and  assumed  the  responsi 
bility  of  advancing.  'After  a  disastrous  delay,  and  without  orders,'  says 
General  Seymour, i  he  led .  his  brigade  on  to  assault  the  south-east  angle 
through  a  destructive  fire.'  "(12) 

The  brave  young  commander  reached  the  ditch,  crossed  it,  and  mounted 
the  parapet,  followed  by  his  men,  to  fall  with  a  mortal  wound.  A  portion 
of  his  brigade  joined  those  already  in  the  bastion,  but  in  the  darkness  a 
portion  of  the  troops  fired  a  volley  into  Strong's  brigade.  In  the  attack 
General  Seymour  and  General  Strong  were  wounded,  and  every  colonel  was 
killed  or  wounded.  Men  fell  by  scores  on  the  parapet,  to  roll  back  into 
the  ditch,  already  piled  witft  the  fallen :  some  to  be  strangled  in  the 
water,  others  to  die  of  suffocation  in  the  sand.  With  howitzers  pouring 
canister  upon  them  ;  with  a  thousand  Confederate  muskets  sending  bullets 
into  the  huddled  mass,  the  fearful  carnage  went  on.  Messengers  were 
sent  to  General  Stevenson,  commanding  the  brigade  in  reserve,  to  ad 
vance,  but  he  waited  for  orders  from  General  Gillrnore. 

When  at  last  that  brigade  advanced  it  was  only  to  meet  the  shattered 
remnants  drifting  back  in  disorder  through  the  darkness.  Not  all,  for  still 
in  the  bastion  were  one  hundred  and  forty  men,  all  privates,  belonging  to 
different  regiments,  not  a  commissioned  officer  among  them.  How  brave 
ly  they  held  out  is  narrated  by  the  Confederate  commander : 

"  The  party  which  had  gained  access  by  the  salient  next  the  sea  could 
not  escape.  It  was  certain  death  to  pass  the  line  of  concentrated  fire  which 
swept  the  face  of  the  work,  and  they  did  not  attempt  it ;  but  they  would 
not  surrender,  and  in  despair  kept  up  a  continuous  fire  upon  the  main 
body  in  the  fort.  The  Confederates  called  for  volunteers  to  dislodge  them 
— a  summons  which  was  promptly  responded  to  by  Major  MacDonald,  of 
the  Fifty-first  North  Carolina,  and  by  Captain  Eion,  of  the  Charleston  Bat 
talion,  with  the  requisite  number  of  men.  Rion's  company  was  selected, 
and  the  gallant  Irishman,  at  the  head  of  his  company,  dashed  at  the  reck 
less  and  insane  men  who  seemed  to  insist  upon  immolation. . . .  Rion  rushed 
at  them,  but  he  fell,  shot  outright,  with  several  of  his  men,  and  the  rest 
recoiled.  "(13) 

General  Beauregard  in  Charleston  had  seen  from  his  headquarters  the 
flashing  of  the  cannon  and  musketry,  and  had  sent  the  Thirty  -  Second 
Georgia  in  a  steamer  to  Morris  Island.  It  was  a  large  regiment,  and  came 
upon  the  run  from  Cumming's  Point.  Even  with  this  fire  added  to  that 
of  the  garrison,  the  few  Union  soldiers  still  held  the  bastion,  till,  seeing  that 
no  relief  was  possible,  they  gave  up  the  struggle  and  surrendered,  after 
maintaining  their  position  four  hours. 


ASSAULT   ON   FORT  WAGNER.  34:9 

Midnight. — The  sound  of  the  conflict  has  died  away.  The  Confeder 
ates,  looking  down  into  the  ditch,  behold  by  the  lightning-flashes  a  ghastly 
scene.  Fifteen  hundred  men  have  been  killed  or  wounded,  and  those  of 
the  living  who  have  not  dragged  themselves  away  are  piled  in  a  mass  be 
fore  them.  No  other  spot  on  this  Western  continent  has  presented  a  like 
scene  of  horror  or  a  more  heroic  struggle.  Let  us  close  our  ears  to  the 
wails  of  the  wounded  and  the  groans  of  the  dying.  Let  darkness  hide  the 
blood-red  water  in  the  moat,  and  let  us  hear,  instead,  in  the  early  hours  of 
Sunday  morning,  coming  from  that  pile  of  dead  and  dying,  the  last  words 
of  one  who  has  led  a  religious  life,  who,  with  both  legs  crushed  and  his 
life-blood  flowing  from  ghastly  wounds,  sings  once  more  the  songs  he  has 
often  sung  in  the  prayer-meeting  of  the  camp : 

"My  heavenly  home  is  bright  and  fair; 
No  pain  nor  death  shall  enter  there. 
Its  glittering  towers  the  sun  outshines, 
That  heavenly  mansion  shall  be  mine. 

I'm  going  home — I'm  going  home — 

I'm  going  home,  to  die  no  more."(14) 

So  Captain  Paxson,  of  the  Forty-eighth  New  York,  lays  down  his  life 
for  his  country.  Live  on  evermore,  heroes  of  Wagner ! 

Sunday  morning  dawns.  The  waves  are  rippling  on  the  beach;  the 
air  is  calm,  after  the  midnight  tempest  of  the  sky.  The  guns  of  the  mon 
itors  are  silent,  as  are  those  of  Su inter.  Before  we  turn  our  faces  away 
from  the  ghastly  scene  at  the  base  of  Wagner,  let  us  linger  while  a  white 
flag  conies  from  General  Gillmore,  with  a  note  requesting  the  body  of 
Colonel  Shaw.  This  the  answer : 

"  We  will  let  him  be  buried  with  his  niggers." 

It  was  not  a  reply  prompted  by  the  natural  impulse  of  the  Confederate 
commander's  heart,  but  it  was  the  brutality  engendered  by  the  spirit  born 
of  slavery.  The  body  of  Colonel  Shaw  was  buried  where  he  fell— the 
place  which  he  himself  most  likely  would  have  chosen.  That  which  was 
intended  as  an  insult  will  dignify  and  make  glorious  the  service  and  sacri 
fice  of  his  life — dying  for  the  elevation  of  a  despised  race.  He  loved  jus 
tice  and  liberty.  His  sympathies  were  with  the  poor  and  lowly  and  op 
pressed  ;  he  cast  in  his  lot  with  them,  and  so  his  name  will  go  down  the 
ages.  During  the  war  there  were  many  heroic  scenes,  but  it  may  be  ques 
tioned  whether  any  contest,  for  determination,  bravery,'  endurance,  and 
sacrifice  of  life,  surpassed  that  of  Wagner. 

"  It  may  be  said,"  are  the  words  of  a  Savannah  paper,  "  that  a  more 


350  MARCHING  TO  VICTORY. 

daring  and  gallant  assault  has  not  been  made  since  the  commencement  of 
the  war."(15) 

This  the  commendation  of  the  Fifty-fourth  Massachusetts  by  General 
Strong  the  next  morning :  "  They  did  well  and  nobly ;  only  the  fall  of 
Colonel  Shaw  prevented  them  from  entering  the  fort.  They  moved  up  as 
gallantly  as  any  troops  could,  and,  with  their  enthusiasm,  deserved  a  better 
fate."(16)  The  advance  of  Sumner's  corps  up  the  slope  of  Marye's  Heights 
at  Fredericksburg  was  bravely  done,  resulting  in  frightful  loss  of  life ; 
equally  brave,  and  more  dramatic,  was  the  Confederate  advance  across 
Codori's  fields  at  Gettysburg ;  but  neither  at  Fredericksburg  nor  at  Get 
tysburg  was  there  persistence  and  endurance  greater  than  that  in  the  bast 
ion  of  Wagner.  The  winds  and  the  waves  have  left  but  a  shapeless 
mound  where  once  it  stood,  but  its  bastion  will  remain  evermore  a  land 
mark  in  history ;  for  there  the  Fifty-fourth  Massachusetts  Regiment,  rep 
resenting  a  despised  race,  manifested  to  the  world  the  manhood  of  that 
race,  and  its  right  to  citizenship  under  the  flag  of  the  republic,  by  giving 
their  lives  freely  that  the  nation  might  live.  When  Sergeant  Carney 
leaped  the  ditch,  climbed  the  glacis,  and  planted  the  Stars  and  Stripes 
upon  the  parapet  of  Wagner,  the  whole  African  race  advanced  with  him 
across  the  deep  moat  which,  through  all  the  centuries,  had  separated  it 
from  the  Anglo  -  Saxon.  Prejudice  and  contumely  disappeared  in  the 
clouds  of  that  Saturday  night's  tempest,  and  with  the  dawn  of  Sunday 
morning  came  for  them  the  beginning  of  a  new  era. 


NOTES  TO  CHAPTER  XVI. 

( J)  Palmer,  "History  of  the  Forty-eighth  New  York,"  p.  84. 

( 9)  Charleston  Mercury,  July  13, 1863. 

( 3)  Idem. 

(  4)  Charleston  Mercury,  July  20, 1863. 

( 5)  Emilio,  "Fort  Wagner,"  p.  6. 

( 6)  General  Seymour's  Report. 

( 7)  Emilio,  "Fort  Wagner,"  p.  7. 

( 8)  Palmer,  "  History  of  the  Forty-eighth  New  York,"  p.  105. 

( 9)  Emilio,  "Fort  Wagner,"  p.  11. 

(10)  Palmer,  "History  of  the  Forty-eighth  New  York,"  p.  105. 

(")  General  Taliaferro,  quoted  ("History  of  the  Forty-eighth  New  York, "p.  107). 

(12)  General  Seymour's  Report. 

(1?)  General  Taliaferro,  quoted,  p.  107. 

C14)  Palmer,  "History  of  the  Forty-eighth  New  York,"  p.  121. 

(15)  Savannah  Republican,  August  16, 1863. 

(16)  Harper's  Weekly,  August  15, 1863. 


OPERATIONS  AGAINST  WAGNER  AND  SUMTER.  351 


CHAPTEK  XVII. 

OPERATIONS  AGAINST  WAGNER  AND   SUMTER. 

Confederate  war-ship  Florida,  built  in  England  in  the  early  part 
of  1863,  was  off  the  coast  of  Brazil,  capturing  the  merchant-vessels  of 
the  United  States,  one  of  which,  the  brig  Clarence,  instead  of  being 
burned,  was  put  in  command  of  Lieutenant  Reed,  with  a  crew  from 
the  Florida.  A  six -pounder  howitzer  was  placed  on  board,  and  the 
Clarence  sailed  away  to  begin  her  work  of  destruction,  capturing  off  Cape 
Hatteras  the  Whistling  Wind,  loaded  with  stores  for  the  Union  troops 
at  New  Orleans.  In  a  short  time  three  other  ships  were  captured  and 
burned. 

The  Alfred  Partridge,  with  the  crew  of  the  captured  vessel,  was  sent 
ashore  at  the  mouth  of  Delaware  Bay — which  was  the  first  information  of 
what  this  Confederate  sailing-vessel  was  doing.  The  next  prize  was  the 
swift-sailing  bark  Tacony,  which  was  so  beautiful  and  swift  that  the  how 
itzer  was  placed  on  board,  and  the  Clarence  set  on  fire.  Up  the  New 
England  coast  sailed  the  Tacony,  overhauling  in  quick  succession  fourteen 
vessels,  all  of  which  were  destroyed.  On  June  25th  the  schooner  Archer 
was  captured,  the  howitzer  transferred  to  her  deck,  and  the  Tacony  given 
to  the  flames. 

The  Confederate  commander  greatly  desired  to  gain  possession  of  a 
steamer,  and  learning  from  some  fishermen  that  the  revenue  cutter  Caleb 
Gushing  was  in  Portland  harbor,  determined  to  capture  her.  As  the  sun 
was  going  down  on  the  evening  of  the  27th  the  sailors  on  the  fishing- 
smacks  off  Cape  Elizabeth  saw  a  schooner  sail  into  the  harbor.  The  watch 
on  the  revenue-cutter  paid  no  attention  to  the  schooners  that  were  coming 
and  going.  The  twilight  faded  away,  darkness  settled  over  sea  and  land, 
when  suddenly  over  the  bulwarks  of  the  Gushing  leaped  the  Confederates, 
overpowering  the  watch  pacing  her  deck,  securing  officers  and  crew.  It 
was  all  done  so  quietly  that  no  one  in  the  harbor  knew  what  had  hap 
pened  till,  in  the  dim  gray  of  the  morning,  when  Captain  Merriman,  who 
had  been  ordered  to  Portland  to  take  command  of  the  Gushing,  and  who 
was  on  the  steamer  from  Boston,  saw  the  Gushing  steaming  out  to  sea. 


352  MARCHING  TO  VICTORY, 

There  was  a  commotion  in  Portland.  Major  Anderson,  commanding  Fort 
Preble,  put  his  troops  on  board  two  steamers,  citizens  volunteered,  and  in 
a  short  time  the  steamers  and  three  tug -boats  were  in  pursuit.  They 
sighted  the  Gushing  and  Archer,  and  by  eleven  o'clock  were  within  can 
non-shot.  The  Confederates  opened  fire,  but  the  steamers  steered  straight 
on,  whereupon  Lieutenant  Reed  set  the  Gushing  on  fire  and  leaped,  with 
his  crew,  into  the  small  boats ;  but  before  night  they  were  all  prisoners 
inside  of  Fort  Preble. 

The  first  vessel  purchased  by  the  Confederate  agent  in  England,  Cap 
tain  Bullock,  was  the  steamer  Fingal,  which  at  the  beginning  of  the  war 
reached  Wilmington  with  a  great  amount  of  arms,  ammunition,  and  sup 
plies  for  the  Confederate  army.  She  had  run  into  Savannah,  but  being 
unable  to  get  out  as  a  blockade  runner,  carpenters  were  set  to  work,  and 
the  vessel  was  changed  into  an  iron-plated  ram,  renamed  the  Atlanta,  and 
on  the  morning  of  June  17th  appeared  in  Ossabaw  Sound,  carrying  six 
guns.  She  was  supposed  to  be  a  very  strong  and  powerful  vessel,  and 
two  monitors,  the  Weehawken  and  Nahant,  were  in  the  sound  to  meet 
her.  The  Atlanta  had  two  7-inch  rifled  pivot-guns,  one  fore  and  the 
other  aft,  the  others  on  her  sides,  which  were  covered  with  four  inches 
of  iron  bolted  upon  twenty -four  inches  of  wood,  the  plating  extending 
two  feet  below  the  water-line.  One  million  dollars  in  gold  had  been 
expended  upon  her,  and  Lieutenant  Webb,  in  command,  intended,  after 
finishing  the  monitors,  to  make  his  appearance  among  the  blockaders  off 
Charleston. 

In  the  early  morning  light  of  the  19th  of  June  the  Atlanta  was  dis 
covered.  The  Weehawken  slipped  her  cable  and  steamed  towards  her,  fol 
lowed  by  the  Naliant.  The  Atlanta 's  rifled  guns  first  awoke  the  echoes 
of  the  morning,  firing  three  shots.  Then  came  the  roar  of  one  of  the 
Weehawkerts  cannon,  sending  a  solid  shot  weighing  four  hundred  and 
forty  pounds,  which  tore  through  the  iron  plating  and  the  twenty-four 
inches  of  solid  timber,  knocking  down  by  the  terrible  concussion  more 
than  forty  of  the  crew,  killing  or  wounding  many  of  them  by  the  splin 
ters.  A  second  shot  struck  one  of  the  iron  shutters  of  a  port,  knocking 
it  into  fragments,  killing  or  wounding  seventeen  men.  The  Atlanta  had 
grounded,  and  was  helpless.  Three  more  shots  came  from  the  Weehaw- 
ken,  riddling  the  vessel,  making  terrible  havoc  among  its  crew.  Fifteen 
minutes,  and  the  contest  was  over.  A  white  flag  went  up  from  the  Con 
federate  vessel  in  token  of  surrender,  and  the  two  steamboats,  crowded 
with  ladies  and  gentlemen  who  had  come  down  from  Savannah  to  see 
the  monitors  knocked  to  pieces,  steamed  back  again  with  the  mournful 


OPERATIONS  AGAINST  WAGNER  AND   SUMTER. 


355 


news.  The  Atlanta,  which  was  a  valuable  prize,  was  taken  to  New 
York,  repaired,  and  rendered  excellent  service  for  the  Union  to  the  close 
of  the  war. 

We  have  already  seen  (Chapter  XYI.)  how  the  monitors  and  the  New 
Ironsides  had  bombarded  Fort  Wagner  on  the  day  of  the  assault  by  the 
troops  of  General  Gillmore,  and  they  were  still  hurling  shot  and  shell 
upon  it. 

General  Beauregard  determined  to  hold  Morris  Island  at  all  hazards. 
General  Gillmore  was  equally  determined  to  gain  possession  of  Wagner. 
It  must  be  done  by  regular  siege  operations — by  the  shovel,  by  heavy 
cannon  and  mortars.  On  the  20th  of  June  he  had  two  new  batteries 
ready,  and  in  the  afternoon  of  that  day  a  shot  dismounted  a  10-inch  Con- 


DIGGING  TRENCHES  AND  MOUNTING   GUNS. 


federate  gun.  He  began,  also,  a  fire  upon  Sumter.  His  30-pounder  Par- 
rott  cannon  were  nearly  two  miles  distant,  but  the  shot  had  so  marked  an 
effect  that  he  determined  to  keep  his  rifled  guns  pounding  its  walls.  On 
the  28th  General  Gillmore's  troops  had  dug  their  way  to  within  sixteen 
hundred  feet  of  Wagner.  At  night  the  sharp-shooters  went  in  advance, 
with  shovels,  scooped  rifle-pits  in  the  sand,  and  through  the  day  kept  such 
a  sharp  watch  that  the  Confederates  could  not  work  their  guns.  By 


356 


MARCHING   TO  VICTORY. 


August  9th  the  troops  were  only  four  hundred  yards  from  the  fort.  Gill- 
more  had  twenty-eight  heavy  guns  and  twelve  mortars  ready,  and  on  the 
17th  opened  in  earnest  upon  Su  inter,  while  the  monitors  and  gunboats 
rained  their  fire  upon  Wagner.  During  the  morning  six  hundred  and 
twelve  shot  and  shell  were  fired  at  Sumter,  dismounting  or  disabling  five 
of  its  cannon  and  crumbling  the  wall.  In  seven  days,  up  to  the  24th, 


;. '          :      - 


UNION    SHARP  SHOOTERS   IN   FRONT   OF   FORT   WAGNER. 


five  thousand  seven  hundred  and  fifty  shot  and  shell  were  fired,  of  which 
nearly  four  thousand  five  hundred  struck  the  fort,  making  it  a  shapeless 
ruin,  with  nearly  all  its  guns  dismounted. 

"  I  consider  it  impossible  either  to  mount  or  use  guns  on  any  part  of 
the  parapet,  and  I  deem  the  fort  in  its  present  condition  unserviceable  for 
offensive  purposes,"  was  the  report  made  by  Colonel  Rhett,  the  Confed 
erate  commander,  to  General  Beauregard. 

The  call  of  the  Governor  of  South  Carolina  and  of  the  Mayor  of 
Charleston  for  slaves  to  work  on  the  fortifications  had  been  responded  to 
by  the  planters,  and  earthworks  were  being  thrown  up  at  every  point. 
Fort  Moultrie,  on  Sullivan's  Island,  was  of  brick,  but  now  great  banks  of 
sand,  twenty  feet  thick,  were  heaped  against  its  walls,  Heavy  cannon 
were  mounted.  Batteries  were  erected  along  the  shore.  At  the  extreme 
end  of  the  island  was.  Fort  Marshall,  mounted  with  sixty-seven  cannon, 


OPERATIONS  AGAINST  WAGNER  AND   SUMTER.  359 

some  of  them  8  and  10  inch,  with  mortars.  In  Fort  Johnson  were  twelve 
heavy  guns,  and  near  by  on  a  sand-spit  were  six  more.  Half  a  mile  from 
this  was  Battery  Wimpler,  with  two  10-inch  columbiads,  and  just  beyond 
it  Battery  Glover,  with  three  8-inch  rifles.  Opposite  these,  on  the  other 
side  of  the  channel,  were  Fort  Ripley,  a  crib-work  on  a  shoal,  and  Castle 
Pinckney,  with  three  10-inch  guns  and  one  T-inch  rifle.  On  a  point  of 
land  stood  an  English-made  cannon  throwing  a  shot  weighing  seven  hun 
dred  pounds,  and  four  other  8  and  10  inch  guns.  Along  the  shaded  prom 
enade  in  Charleston,  in  front  of  the  costliest  mansions,  were  works  built 
with  cotton  sacks  filled  with  sand,  where  heavy  guns  were  mounted.  In 
the  harbor  were  the  iron-clad  rams,  mounting  fourteen  rifled  cannon.  The 
guns  in  the  various  batteries  were  so  arranged  that  if  the  monitors  were 
to  pass  Sumter  they  would  come  under  a  concentrated  fire  in  the  inner 
harbor. 

"  The  farther  the  enemy  got  in,  the  worse  off  they  would  be.  If  they' 
passed  the  outer  batteries,  they  would  have  come  within  another  circle  of 
fire ;  had  they  succeeded  in  passing  that,  they  would  have  been  in  the 
centre  of  still  another  circular  fire.  Some  of  the  heaviest  guns  were  on 
these  interior  batteries,"  said  the  Confederate  General  Eipley. 

Admiral  Dahlgren,  commanding  the  Union  fleet,  had  no  intention 
of  attempting  to  run  past  Sumter,  but  General  Gillmore  determined  to 
gain  possession  of  Morris  Island.  The  people  of  the  North  demanded 
that  the  city  of  Charleston,  which  they  regarded  as  having  been  the  hot 
bed  of  secession,  where  the  conspiracy,  like  a  hot-house  plant,  had  been 
nourished,  should  pay  the  penalty  for  its  crime. 

West  of  Morris  Island  were  marshes  threaded  with  inlets,  where  water 
fowl  built  their  nests,  and  where  the  reed-birds  gathered  in  flocks.  Colo 
nel  Serrell,  of  the  Volunteer  Engineers,  planned  the  construction  of  a  bat- 
.tery  amid  the  tall  grasses,  from  which  shells  might  be  fired  into  Charles 
ton,  a  distance  of  nearly  five  miles.  The  mud  was  twenty  feet  deep. 
The  location  was  under  the  fire  of  the  Confederate  batteries  on  James 
Island,  and  the  work  of  construction  must  all  be  done  in  the  night.  Tim 
ber  was  floated  from  Folly  Island  through  the  creeks ;  piles  were  driven 
into  the  mud ;  bags  were  filled  with  sand  and  taken  to  the  spot.  A 
long  causeway  was  constructed  over  the  marsh.  In  all,  thirteen  thou 
sand  bags  were  used ;  together  with  one  hundred  and  twenty-three  tim 
bers  eighteen  inches  in  diameter  and  fifty-five  feet  long ;  besides  fifteen 
thousand  feet  of  plank  and  boards.  A  200-pounder  Parrott  gun  was 
mounted. 

On  August  21st  General  Gillmore  informed  General  Beauregard  by 


360 


MARCHING   TO   VICTORY. 


flag  of  truce  that  his  batteries  were  in  position  to  open  fire  upon  Charles 
ton,  and  demanded  the  evacuation  of  Morris  Island  and  Fort  Sumter, 
which  General  Beauregard  refused  to  do.  The  soldiers  called  the  battery 
the  "  Swamp  Angel,"  but  upon  firing  the  thirty-fifth  shell  the  cannon 
burst. 

The  sappers  and  miners  digging  the  trenches  in  front  of  Wagner 
were  annoyed  by  the  Confederate  sharp-shooters  lying  behind  a  sand- 
ridge,  and  the  Twenty-fourth  Massachusetts  Regiment  was  selected  to  dis 
lodge  them.  On  the  night  of  the  26th  of  August  the  mortars  and  batter 
ies  which  had  been  firing  through  the  day  suddenly  ceased,  when  up  sprang 
the  Massachusetts  men,  rushing  across  the  sand,  and  capturing  nearly  all 
the  Confederates.  Following  the  soldiers  came  men  with  shovels,  who  in 


MAP   OF  APPROACHES  TO  WAGNER. 


a  few  minutes,  before  the  Confederates  in  the  fort  could  open  fire,  had  a 
bank  of  sand  thrown  up  completely  sheltering  them,  enabling  General  Gill- 
more  to  open  the  fifth  parallel  within  three  hundred  feet  of  the  fort.  The 
next  night  the  men  in  the  trenches  were  only  one  hundred  feet  from  the 
fort.  At  that  point  the  sand-ridge  between  the  sea  and  the  marsh  was 
only  two  feet  high  and  twenty-five  feet  wide.  The  Confederate  batteries 
on  James  Island  were  sending  shells  across  the  marshes  with  great  accu 
racy,  and  the  shovellers  could  not  dig  any  farther  unless  so  hot  a  fire  was 
poured  upon  the  fort  that  the  Confederates  would  be  compelled  to  keep 
inside  the  bomb-proof.  General  Gillmore  brought  forward  all  his  light 
mortars,  placed  his  guns  nearer,  and  arranged  a  powerful  calcium  light, 
with  which  he  could  illuminate  Wagner  at  night  and  enable  the  gunners 
to  sight  the  cannon,  and  the  sharp-shooters  to  pick  off  those  attempting  to 
work  the  guns.  The  light  dazzled  the  Confederates  wrhile  it  increased 
the  darkness  of  the  Union  trenches. 

On  September  5th  the  bombardment  began  from  seventeen  mortars, 
and  thirteen  Parrott  rifled  cannon ;  and  from  the  frigate  New  Ironsides 
continued  without  cessation  for  forty -two  hours  a  continuous  stream  of 
rifled  shot  and  exploding  shells,  so  terrible  that  the  Confederates  were 


K-: 


OPERATIONS  AGAINST  WAGNER  AND   SUMTER.  363 

compelled  to  remain  under  the  bomb-proof,  where  the  heat  was  stifling, 
and  greatly  weakening  and  dispiriting  them.  While  the  shells  were  ex 
ploding  the  Union  shovellers  were  at  work,  carrying  their  trench  along 
the  flank  of  the  fortification.  %  General  Gillmore  intended  to  storm  the  fort 
at  ebb-tide  on  the  morning  of  September  7th.  He  did  not  know  that  Gen 
eral  Beauregard  was  reading  all  the  signals  that  passed  between  the  army 
and  the  fleet  by  the  waving  of  flags ;  but  he  had  discovered  the  key  by 
capturing  a  Union  signal-officer,  who  in  some  way,  or  by  some  inducement, 
gave  away  the  secret.  He  read  the  signal  waved  from  the  shore  to  the 
New  Ironsides  that  Wagner  was  to  be  assaulted,  and  as  soon  as  it  was 
dark  the  troops  came  out  of  the  bomb-proof  and  made  haste  to  Cum- 
mirig's  Point,  and  thence  in  boats  to  Charleston. 

There  was  only  one  cannon  remaining  in  Sumter,  but  a  regiment  of 
Confederate  infantry  was  there  to  hold  the  fort.  Admiral  Dahlgren 
planned  an  expedition  for  the  capture  of  Sumter  by  sailors  in  boats  at 
night,  but  the  Confederate  officer  watching  the  waving  of  the  Union 
signal -flags  read  the  message  sent  to  Gillmore  regarding  the  plan,  and 
when  the  boats  moved  up  in  the  darkness  all  the  batteries  on  Sullivan's 
and  James  islands  opened  upon  them,  and  they  were  quickly  repulsed  with 
a  loss  of  more  than  one  hundred  men. 

Admiral  Dahlgren  determined  to  bombard  Fort  Moultrie,  and  the  moni 
tors,  on  September  7th,  steamed  up  the  channel  and  opened  fire.  The 
WeehawTcen  ran  aground,  and  all  the  Confederate  batteries  opened  upon 
her.  The  other  monitors  and  the  New  Ironsides  replied,  continuing  the 
fire  several  hours,  when  suddenly  there  came  an  explosion  in  Moultrie, 
lifting  a  great  cloud  of  sand  high  in  the  air,  together  with  planks  and 
timbers  and  shells,  which  exploded  about  the  garrison  with  a  concussion 
that  jarred  all  the  windows  of  Charleston,  and  which  was  heard  far  away. 

It  was  seen  that  though  the  magazine  had  been  exploded,  the  fort  was 
little  damaged  by  the  bombardment.  The  Navy  Department  at  Washing 
ton  did  not  wish  Admiral  Dahlgren  to  attempt  to  run  into  Charleston  har 
bor,  for  the  iron-clad  ram  which  had  been  launched  at  Birkenhead,  Eng 
land,  was  nearly  ready  for  sea,  and  the  monitors  alone  could  cope  with  so 
formidable  a  vessel. 

Going  over  to  London,  we  see  Mr.  Adams  during  those  September 
days  writing  vigorous  letters  to  Lord  John  Kussell. 

A  second  ram  had  been  launched.  It  was  well  known  that  the  vessels 
were  being  built  for  the  Confederate  Government,  and  although  Mr.  Adams 
had  repeatedly  called  Lord  John  Russell's  attention  to  them,  the  building 
and  outfitting  were  allowed  to  go  on. 


364  MARCHING  TO   VICTORY. 

"  The  Government  cannot  interfere  in  any  way  with  these  vessels," 
wrote  Lord  John  Russell  in  reply  to  Mr.  Adams. 

"  The  ram  is  taking  coal  on  board,  and  she  may  go  to  sea  at  any  time," 
was  the  despatch  from  the  United  States  Consul  at  Liverpool  to  Mr.  Adams 
September  3d. 

"  In  the  name  of  my  government  I  make  this  last  solemn  protest  against 
the  commission  of  such  an  act  of  hostility  against  a  friendly  nation,"  said 
Mr.  Adams  to  Lord  John  Eussell  the  next  day.  Two  days  later  he  wrote : 

"  At  this  moment,  when  one  of  the  iron-clad  vessels  is  on  the  point  of 
departure  from  this  kingdom  on  its  hostile  errand  against  the  United  States, 
it  would  be  superfluous  for  me  to  point  out  to  your  lordship  that  this  is 
war." 

Lord  John  Russell  and  Lord  Palmerston  began  to  see  things  in  a  new 
light.  They  sympathized  with  the  Confederacy,  but  were  not  quite  ready 
to  go  to  war  with  the  United  States ;  for  in  that  case  British  ships  as  well 
as  American  vessels  might  possibly  be  burned  at  sea,  and  orders  were  issued 
to  prevent  the  sailing  of  the  iron-clads.  Several  large  war-ships  took  posi 
tion  off  the  ship-yard  where  the  ram  was  lying. 

To  be  prepared  for  them,  the  monitors  waited  in  the  outer  harbor  of 
Charleston  ;  while  General  Gillmore  planted  his  heavy  long-range  rifled 
cannon  on  Cumming's  Point,  and  began  the  bombardment  of  the  city, 
which  was  to  go  on,  day  after  day,  to  the  end  of  the  war. 


EAST  TENNESSEE.  365 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

EAST  TENNESSEE. 

THE  section  of  country  called  Eastern  Tennessee  includes  thirty  coun 
ties.  From  its  many  mountain  ranges  it  has  been  called  the  Switzerland 
of  America,  but  it  has  no  gleaming  ice-clad  peaks,  no  lofty  summits  white 
with  snow  in  midsummer,  no  rivers  of  ice  grinding  through  deep  gorges. 
Upon  the  north  are  the  Cumberland  Mountains,  where  the  rivulets  which 
course  down  the  valleys  form  the  Cumberland  River,  flowing  westward 
through  Kentucky  to  the  Ohio  River.  On  the  south  are  the  Alleghany 
Mountains,  extending  in  a  continuous  chain  into  Georgia  and  Alabama, 
Between  these  two  great  ranges  are  others  of  less  magnitude.  Through 
the  valleys  flow  the  Holston  River,  the  French  Broad,  Clinch,  Hiawassee, 
and  other  streams,  which,  when  united,  form  the  Tennessee.  It  is  a  region 
of  mountains,  wooded  hills,  undulating  plains.  Along  the  Holston  and 
Hiawassee,  the  lands  are  fertile,  and  in  midsummer  the  air  is  fragrant 
with  clover  -  blooms,  and  the  landscape  golden  with  ripening  wheat.  In 
the  autumn  the  orchards  are  laden  with  apples,  peaches,  and  plums.  But 
in  many  places  the  soil  is  thin,  and  yields  scanty  harvests  to  the  farmers. 
The  mountains  are  clothed  with  dense  forests,  the  haunts  of  deer.  There 
are  few  roads  for  wagons,  but  many  paths  leading  up  the  valleys,  across 
streams,  and  over  the  mountain  ranges. 

The  people  were  a  hardy  race  of  mountaineers.  They  lived  plain,  sim 
ple  lives.  Their  homes  were  log-cabins,  with  a  great  fireplace  at  one  end, 
a  chimney  of  sticks  and  mud ;  the  floors  were  of  hewn  timber.  Their 
wrants  were  few.  The  men  planted  a  little  patch  with  corn,  another  with 
potatoes.  They  raised  pigs  that  they  might  have  bacon.  The  women  and 
girls  spun  yarn  upon  the  old-fashioned  wheel,  and  wove  cloth  in  the  house 
hold  loom.  Their  gowns  were  of  cotton  and  wool.  The  garments  of  the 
men  were  cotton  jeans  dyed  brown  with  butternut  bark. 

These  people  had  few  of  the  comforts  of  civilization,  and  were  con 
tent  with  their  lot  in  life.  The  corn  which  they  raised  was  ground  to 
coarse  meal  in  a  hand-mill  or  in  a  rude  water-mill  upon  a  mountain  brook. 


366 


MARCHING  TO  VICTORY. 


They  hunted  deer  and  bear  in  the  forests,  or  supplied  themselves  with 
fish  from  the  streams. 

There  were  few  slaves  in  Eastern  Tennessee.  The  climate  was  not 
suited  to  the  profitable  cultivation  of  cotton,  and  so  they  had  no  sympathy 
with  the  Confederacy,  which  was  established  on  a  slave-holding  aristocracy 
of  cotton-planters.  They  had  ever  been  free  and  independent,  and  no  ar- 


INTERIOR  OF  A  MOUNTAINEER  S  HOME   IN  TENNESSEE. 

gument,  however  persuasive,  could  turn  them  from  their  allegiance  to  the 
Union  established  by  their  fathers. 

The  legislature  which  had  been  elected  in  1860  was  in  favor  of  seced 
ing  from  the  Union,  and  passed  a  vote  submitting  the  question  of  holding 
a  convention  to  the  people.  The  people  of  the  State,  by  a  majority  of 
more  than  twenty  thousand,  voted  not  to  hold  a  convention.  In  the 
counties  composing  Eastern  Tennessee,  seven  thousand  five  hundred  voted 
for  the  convention,  thirty-four  thousand  against  it. 

The  governor  of  the  State,  Isham  G.  Harris,  was  a  Secessionist,  and, 
not  to  be  thwarted  in  his  plans,  called  the  legislature  together.  It  met  on 
April  25,  1861,  when  the  whole  country  was  aroused  over  the  firing  on 
Fort  Sumter.  He  said  in  his  message  that  the  time  had  come  fo-r  imme- 


EAST   TENNESSEE. 


367 


diate  action ;  that  they  need  not  wait  to  submit  the  question  to  the  peo 
ple.  A  commissioner  from  the  Confederate  States,  Henry  "VV.  Hilliard,  ad 
dressed  the  members,  setting  forth  the  future  greatness  and  glory  of  the 
Confederacy.  The  Secessionists,  having  a  majority,  authorized  Governor 
Harris  to  enter  into  a  military  league  with  the  Confederate  States.  The 
eighteen  members  from  East  Tennessee,  being  in  a  hopeless  minority,  did 
not  vote.  The  governor  was  authorized  to  raise  fifty  thousand  volunteers, 
and  five  million  dollars  was  appropriated  to  enable  him  to  do  so.  By 
this  act  the  whole  military  force  of  the  State  was  placed  under  the  con 
trol  of  Jefferson  Davis,  in  opposition  to  the  expressed  will  of  the  people. 


I 


CORN-MILL   IN   EAST   TENNESSEE. 


Not  only  the  troops  but  the  treasury  was  given  into  the  control  of  the 
President  of  the  Confederacy— an  act  destined  to  drench  the  State  with 
blood,  ravage  its  fields,  destroy  its  wealth,  sweep  into  untimely  graves 
thousands  of  brave  men,  array  brother  against  brother,  and  engender  feuds 
which  would  remain  long  after  the  closing  of  the  war.  The  legislature 


368  MARCHING  TO   VICTORY. 

voted,  May  7th,  to  submit  the  question  to  the  people,  well  knowing  that 
before  June  8th  the  State  would  be  irrevocably  attached  to  the  Con 
federacy.  The  voting  was  a  farce  and  fraud.  Confederate  soldiers  from 
other  States  cast  in  their  ballots.  It  is  said  that  the  returns  were  altered 
by  the  authorities  to  swell  the  majority  in  favor  of  secession.  But  the 
people  of  East  Tennessee,  despite  all  frauds,  gave  a  majority  of  nineteen 
thousand  against  secession. 

The  entire  mountain  region  of  the  Southern  States  was  loyal  to  the 
Union — West  Virginia,  Kentucky,  East  Tennessee,  North  Carolina,  and 
Northern  Georgia.  By  the  advance  of  troops  from  Ohio  into  West  Vir 
ginia,  at  the  beginning  of  the  war,  the  Confederates  had  been  expelled ; 
nor  is  there  much  doubt  that  if  a  Union  army  could  have  reached 
Knoxville  in  the  fall  of  1861,  the  people  of  East  Tennessee,  West  North 
Carolina,  and  Northern  Georgia  would  have  risen  en  masse  against  the 
Confederacy. 

Brave  men  whose  homes  were  upon  the  mountain  -  sides  were  not 
intimidated  by  the  persecutions  they  were  called  upon  to  suffer.  Prom 
inent  among  them  were  Kev.  Mr.  Brownlow,  a  Methodist  minister,  who 
published  the  Knoxville  Whig  •  Andrew  Johnson,  who  began  life  as  a 
tailor,  who  had  been  governor  of  the  State,  and  was  then  Senator  in 
Congress ;  and  Horace  Maynard,  Representative  in  Congress,  who  en 
couraged  the  people  to  resist  the  Secessionists.  The  feeling  became 
very  bitter.  Families  were  divided.  Instead  of  brotherly  love  there  was 
hatred.  Ministers  of  the  Gospel  who  had  preached  charity,  who  had  sat 
at  the  same  communion,  became  estranged.  Society  was  broken  up  The 
Union  men  formed  loyal  leagues,  meeting  at  night  in  secret.  "  Parson  " 
Brownlow,  as  the  people  familiarly  called  him,  hoisted  the  Stars  and 
Stripes  above  his  house,  and  kept  it  flying  there  until  his  arrest  by  the 
Confederate  Government,  and  his  paper,  the  Knoxville  Whig,  was  sup 
pressed. 

Altercations  took  place  in  midsummer,  1861,  between  the  Confederate 
soldiers  and  the  Union  men,  one  of  whom  was  shot  in  the  street.  Charles 
S.  Douglas  hoisted  the  Stars  and  Stripes  over  his  house,  and  said  that  he 
should  protect  it,  whereupon  a  Confederate  secreted  himself  in  a  hotel 
chamber  opposite,  and  when  Mr.  Douglas  appeared  at  his  window  sent 
a  bullet  through  his  heart.  The  court  was  in  session,  but  the  judge  and 
the  State's  attorney  being  Secessionists,  would  not  issue  a  warrant  for  the 
arrest  of  the  murderer.  So  bitter  were  the  Confederates,  that  the  min 
ister  of  the  Episcopal  Church  who  read  the  burial  service  at  his  funeral 
was  denounced  and  ostracized  by  his  fellow-Secessionists.C) 


EAST  TENNESSEE. 


369 


Opprobrious  terms  were  applied  to  the  Union  men,  who  were  called 
"  Lincolnites,"  "  Tories,"  "  Hessians,"  "  Black  Kepublicans,"  "  Kebels." 

The  Union  men,  feeling  that  the  State  had  been  forced  into  the  Con 
federacy  by  fraud,  determined  to  defend  themselves,  and  do  what  damage 
they  could  to  the  Confederate  Government.  Troops  guarded  the  bridges 
on  the  railroads.  On  November  8,  1861,  the  Union  men  overpowered  the 


ANDREW  JOHNSON. 


guards,  and  burned  six  bridges — four  on  the  East  Tennessee  Railroad,  and 
two  on  the  railroad  between  Chattanooga  and  Atlanta. 

"  The  Union  party  are  organizing,  and  preparing  to  destroy  or  take 
possession  of  the  whole  line  from  Bristol  and  Chattanooga,"  wrote  the 
president  of  the  railroad  the  next  morning.(2) 


370  MARCHING  TO   VICTORY. 

"  There  is  a  concerted  movement  to  destroy  the  bridges,  arid  cut  off 
communication  from  one  portion  of  the  Southern  Confederacy  with  the 
other.  A  worse  state  of  feeling  never  prevailed  in  East  Tennessee  than 
at  the  present  moment,"(3)  wrote  the  Confederate  commissary  the  same 
day. 

Mr.  Benjamin,  Secretary  of  War,  sent  Colonel  Leadbeater,  with  a  bat 
talion  of  troops  and  Stovall's  battery,  from  Richmond,  and  Colonel  Will 
iam  B.  Wood,  who  had  been  a  Methodist  minister  before  the  war,  with 
the  Sixteenth  Georgia.  General  Carroll,  who  had  been  commissioned  by 
Governor  Harris,  was  in  command,  and  the  movement  was  begun  to  put 
down  the  rebellion. 

A  Confederate  gives  this  picture  of  the  state  of  affairs  in  Washington 
County,  almost  at  the  eastern  end  of  the  State : 

"  Civil  war  has  broken  out.  In  this  county  the  Secession  strength  is 
about  equal  to  the  Union  force,  but  we  are  weakened  by  five  volunteer 
companies  now  in  the  service.  In  Carter  and  Johnson  counties,  north-east 
of  this,  the  Union  strength  is  not  only  as  formidable,  but  is  as  violent  as 
that  of  the  north-western  Virginia  counties.  They  look  confidently  for 
the  re-establishment  of  the  Federal  authority  in  the  South  with  as  much 
confidence  as  the  Jews  look  for  the  coming  of  the  Messiah,  and  no  event 
or  circumstance  will  change  their  hopes.  .  .  .  There  are  now  encamped  in 
and  about  Elizabethtown,  in  Carter  County,  some  twelve  or  fifteen  hun 
dred  men,  with  a  motley  assortment  of  guns,  in  open  defiance  of  the  Con 
federate  States.  These  men  are  gathered  up  from  three  or  five  counties, 
and  comprise  the  hostile  Union  element,  which  never  will  be  appeased, 
conciliated,  or  quieted  in  a  Southern  Confederacy." (4) 

"  The  burning  of  the  bridges,"  wrote  Governor  Harris  to  Jefferson 
Davis,  "  shows  a  deep-seated  spirit  of  rebellion.  Union  men  are  organiz 
ing.  The  rebellion  must  be  crushed  instantly,  the  leaders  arrested  and 
summarily  punished.  I  shall  send  ten  thousand  men  to  that  section."(&) 

"  The  Lincolnites  have  from  six  hundred  to  a  thousand  men  near  Straw 
berry  Plains  Bridge,  the  most  important  and  expensive  on  our  road,  and 
still  collecting  in  great  numbers,  and  threaten  to  take  possession  of  oui 
road,"  wrote  the  president  of  the  railroad,  November  13th. (6) 

General  Bragg,  who  was  at  Pensacola,  sent  the  Seventh  Georgia  Regi 
ment  to  help  crush  the  rebellion.  Together  with  the  other  troops  they 
attempted  to  surprise  the  Union  men,  who  had  gathered  at  a  camp-meet 
ing  ground,  between  Knoxville  and  Chattanooga ;  but  having  notice  of 
their  coming,  and  being  too  few  to  resist  them,  the  Union  men  dispersed — 
some  secreting  themselves  in  caves  in  the  mountains,  others  making  their 


EAST  TENNESSEE. 


371 


way  into  Kentucky.  The  colonel  commanding  the  Seventh  Georgia  re 
ported  that  he  had  arrested  "  twelve  traitors,  the  most  miserable,  ignorant, 
poor,  ragged  creatures  he  ever  saw."(7) 

If  the  mountaineers  were  poor  creatures,  so  was  the  Confederate  brig 
adier-general,  who  had  been  appointed  by  Governor  Harris,  in  the  es 
timation  of  the  colonel  of  the  Seventh  Georgia,  who  wrote  these  words 


W.  G.   BROWNLOW. 


to  his  superior  in  command :  "  General  Carroll  has  just  been  appointed. 
He  has  been  drunk  not  less  than  five  years.  He  is  stupid,  but  easily  con 
trolled.  He  knows  nothing,  and  I  believe  I  can  do  with  him  pretty  much 
as  I  please." 

Those  loyal  to  the  Union,  seeing  that  they  could  not  successfully  re 
sist,  were  making  their  way  over  the  mountains  and  through  the  valleys 
to  Kentucky.  It  is  estimated  that  more  than  twenty  thousand  thus  left 
their  homes,  rather  than  remain  to  be  compelled  to  take  the  oath  of  al 
legiance  and  be  conscripted  into  the  Confederate  army.  Other  thousands 


372  MARCHING  TO   VICTORY. 

were  arrested  and  imprisoned.  Every  jail  was  full.  Some  were  sent  to 
Nashville,  and  several  hundred  to  the  Confederate  prison  at  Tuscaloosa, 
Alabama. 

"  Parson  "  Brownlow  had  been  outspoken  in  his  paper,  and  the  Con 
federates  thirsted  for  his  blood.  Colonel  Wood  proclaimed  martial  law 
in  Knoxville,  which  made  him  superior  to  civil  law,  and  gave  him  all 
authority.  He,  too,  was  a  preacher,  but  he  set  men  to  hunting  for  Mr. 
Brownlow,  and  all  other  Union  ministers.  Members  of  the  legislature 
who  opposed  secession  fled  to  the  Smoky  Mountains  in  North  Carolina. 
Up  amid  the  cliffs,  in  a  deep  gorge  easily  guarded,  they  established  their 
camp ;  but  the  Confederate  spies  discovered  them,  and  they  were  com 
pelled  to  disperse. 

Mr.  Brownlow,  upon  the  promise  of  General  Crittenden,  commanding 
the  Military  Department,  that  he  should  receive  a  pass  into  Kentucky  and 
be  protected  *by  a  military  force  to  that  State,  returned  to  Knoxville, 
but  was  arrested  on  charge  of  treason,  was  refused  bail,  and  sent  to  jail. 
His  treason  was  the  publication  of  articles  in  his  paper  several  months 
before  his  arrest. 

"I  was  thrown  into  jail,"  he  wrote,  "  where  I  found  about  one  hundred 
and  fifty  Union  men,  old  and  young,  representing  all  professions.  The  jail 
was  so  crowded  that  on  the  lower  floor  we  had  not  room  to  lie  down  all  at 
once.  The  prisoners  took  rest  by  turns,  a  portion  standing  while  others 
slept.  There  was  not  a  chair,  bench,  stool,  block,  table,  or  any  other  article 
of  furniture,  save  a  wooden  bucket  and  a  tin  cup  used  for  watering  the 
occupants.  .  .  .  The  food  was  not  fit  for  a  dog.  It  was  composed  of  scraps 
and  leavings  of  a  dirty  hotel  kept  by  the  jailer  and  the  deputy-marshal  of 
the  Confederacy.  I  never  tasted  it,  but  was  allowed  the  privilege  of  hav 
ing  my  meals  sent  from  home  three  times  a  day.  This  vile  treatment  and 
loathsome  food  produced  disease.  We  were  cursed  and  denounced  both 
day  and  night  by  the  brutes  who  guarded  us."(9) 

From  Mr.  Brownlow's  diary  we  obtain  a  picture  of  the  state  of 
affairs  : 

"Saturday,  Dec.  Itli. — This  morning  forty  of  our  number,  under  a  heavy 
military  escort,  were  sent  to  Tuscaloosa.  Thirty-one  others  arrived  to 
take  their  places.  They  bring  tales  of  woe  as  to  the  treatment  of  Union 
men  and  Union  families  by  the  drunken  and  debauched  cavalry  in  this 
rebellion.  They  are  taking  all  the  fine  horses,  appropriating  them  to  their 
own  use ;  are  entering  houses,  seizing  money,  blankets,  and  whatever  they 
use. 

"Sunday,  Dec.  Sth. — Three  others  arrived,  telling  us  tales  of  horror  as 


EAST  TENNESSEE. 


375 


to  the  treatment  of  Union  men.  Self-styled  vigilance  committees  are 
prowling  over  the  country  like  wolves,  arresting  men  upon  suspicion  of 
-hostility  to  their  new  government,  and  shooting  others.  They  speak  of 
the  case  of  poor  Pearce,  a  quiet  man,  a  Methodist  class-leader,  shot  down 
in  the  field,  not  for  any  offence,  but  simply  for  being  a  Union  man. 

"Monday,  Dec.  §th. — More  prisoners  in  this  evening.     Twenty-eight 
are  in  from  Jefferson  County.     Some  of  the  prisoners  have  given  the  par 
ticulars  of  the  hanging  of 
Hensie  and  Fry  upon  the 
same  limb  of  a  tree  close 
to  the  railroad  track. 

"Dec.llth.— C.A.Hann 
was  taken  out  to-day  and 
hung  on  charge  of  bridge- 
burning.  He  had  but  short 
notice  of  his  sentence,  hav 
ing  been  condemned  with 
out"  any  defence  allowed 
him  by  a  drum -head  and 
whiskey  -  drinking  court- 
martial.  I  think  that  he 
was  notified  of  his  coming 
death  about  one  hour  in 
advance.  He  desired  a 
Methodist  preacher  to  pray 
with  him,  and  this  was  re 
fused.  .  .  .  Fifteen  more  prisoners  came  to-day  from  Greene  and  Hancock 
counties,  charged  with  having  been  armed  as  Union  men  and  accustomed 
to  drill,  which  I  have  no  doubt  is  true. 

"Dec.  15tfA. — Started  thirty-five  of  our  lot  to  Tuscaloosa,  to  be  held 
during  the  war.  Levi  Teewhitt,  an  able  lawyer,  but  an  old  man,  will 
never  get  back.  His  sons  came  to  see  him,  but  were  refused  the  privilege. 
Dr.  Hunt,  from  the  same  county  of  Bradley,  has  also  gone.  His  wife 
came  sixty  miles  to  see  him,  to  the  jail  door,  but  was  refused  admittance. 

"Dec.  Vlth. — Brought  in  a  Union  man  from  Campbell  County  to-day, 
leaving  behind  six  small  children,  and  their  mother  dead.  The  man's 
offence  is  holding  out  for  the  Union.  Two  more  carts  draw  up  with  cof 
fins  in  them  and  a  military  guard.  They  marched  out  Jacob  Harmon  and 
his  son  Henry,  and  hung  them  upon  the  same  gallows.  The  old  man  was 
a  man  of  property,  quite  old  and  infirm,  and  they  compelled  him  to  sit  on 


HANGING   UNION  MEN  IN  TENNESSEE. 


376  MARCHING   TO   VICTORY. 

the  scaffold  and  see  his  son  hang  first;  then  he  was  ordered  up  and  hung 
by  his  side.  They,  were  charged  with  bridge-burning,  but  protested  to  the 
iast  that  they  were  not  guilty. 

16 Dec.  18th. — Discharged  sixty  prisoners  to-day,  who  had  been  in  prison 
from  three  to  five  weeks — taken  through  mistake,  as  was  said,  there  being 
nothing  against  them. 

"Dec.  20th. — This  is  a  terrible  night !  The  sentinels  are  all  drunk, 
howling  like  wolves,  rushing  to  our  windows,  daring  prisoners  to  show 
their  heads,  firing  off  their  guns  into  the  jail,  and  pretending  it  was  acci 
dental. 

"Dec.  2lst. — Took  out  five  of  the  prisoners,  upon  their  agreeing  to  go 
into  the  rebel  army.  Their  dread  of  Tuscaloosa  induced  them  to  go  into 
the  service.  They  have  offered  this  choice  to  all,  and  only  sent  off  those 
who  stubbornly  refused. 

"Dec.  25th.— The  Union  ladies  in  and  around  Knoxville  applied  to 
General  Carroll  for  leave  to  send  in  a  Christmas  dinner.  He  granted 
leave.  It  affords  me  pleasure  to 'know  that  I  have  been  able,  out  of  my 
basket  of  provisions  and  coffee-pot,  to  furnish  several  old  men  and  very 
sick,  who  could  not  eat  what  comes  from  the  greasy  inn.  Two  of  them 
are  Baptist  ministers — Pope  and  Colt — each  more  than  seventy  years  of 
age.  The  first  named  was  sent  here  for  praying  in  his  pulpit  for  the 
President  of  the  United  States.  The  latter  is  here  for  cheering  the  Stars 
and  Stripes. 

"Dec.  27th. — Harrison  Self,  an  honest,  industrious,  and  peaceable  man, 
citizen  of  Greene  County,  was  notified  this  morning  that  he  was  to  be 
hanged  at  four  o'clock,  P.M.  His  daughter,  a  noble  girl,  modest,  and  neatly 
attired,  came  this  morning  to  see  him.  Heart-broken  and  bowed  under 
a  fearful  weight  of  sorrow,  she  entered  his  iron  cage,  and  they  embraced 
each  other  most  affectionately.  My  God,  what  a  sight ! — what  an  affect 
ing  scene !  May  these  eyes  of  mine,  bathed  in  tears,  never  look  upon  the 
like  again !  She  came  out  weeping  bitterly  and  shedding  burning  tears. 
Requesting  me  to  write  a  despatch  for  her  and  sign  her  name  to  it,  I  took 
out  my  pencil  and  slip  of  paper  and  wrote  the  following: 

"  'KNOXVILLE,  December  27,  1861. 
"  'Hon.  Jefferson  Davis: 

"  'My  father,  Harrison  Self,  is  sentenced  to  hang  at  four  o'clock  this  evening,  on  a 
charge  of  bridge-burning.  As  he  remains  my  earthly  all,  and  all  my  hopes  of  happiness 
centre  in  him,  I  implore  you  to  pardon  him.  ELIZABETH  SELF.' 

"  With  this  despatch  the  poor  girl  hurried  off  to  the  office,  and  about 


EAST  TENNESSEE.  377 

two  o'clock  the  answer  came  to  General  Carroll,  telling  him  not  to  allow 
Self  to  be  hung. 

"  Upon  the  jail  floor,  in  one  corner,  lies  Madison  Cote,  low  with  fever, 
and  upon  a  bit  of  old  carpeting.  I  feel  confident  that  he  will  die.  He  has 
a  little  farm  in  Sevier  County,  a  wife,  and  six  small  children,  and  is  here  for 
being  a  Union  man  and  mustering  a  company  of  Union  Guards.  .  .  .  The 
wife  of  poor  Cote  came  and  presented  herself  in  front  of  the  jail  with  an 
infant  at  her  breast  five  or  six  weeks  old — born,  I  think,  since  her  hus 
band  was  put  in  jail.  She  asked  leave  to  see  her  dying  husband,  but  was 
refused  at  the  door.  I  put  my  head  out  of  the  window,  telling  them  that 
it  was  a  sin  and  a  shame  to  refuse  this  poor  woman,  after  coming  so  far, 
the  liberty  of  seeing  her  husband  for  the  last  time.  They  allowed  her  to 
enter,  but  limited  her  stay  to  twenty  minutes.  Oh,  my  soul,  what  a  scene ! 
Seeing  the  form  of  her  husband  on  the  floor,  she  sank  upon  his  breast.  In 
that  condition,  without  a  word,  they  remained  until  her  twenty  minutes 
expired,  of  which  being  notified  she  retired.  Oh,  what  oppression !  This 
is  the  spirit  of  secession." 

The  men  who  were  accused  of  burning  the  bridges  were  hung  in  ac 
cordance  with  the  following  order  of  Mr.  Benjamin,  the  Confederate  Sec 
retary  of  War : 

"  All  such  as  can  be  identified  as  having  been  engaged  in  bridge-burn 
ing  are  to  be  tried  summarily  by  drum-head  court-martial,  and,  if  found 
guilty,  executed  on  the  spot  by  hanging.  It  would  be  well  to  leave  their 
bodies  hanging  in  the  vicinity  of  the  burned  bridges."(10) 

In  regard  to  the  Union  men  in  general,  Mr.  Benjamin  issued  this  order  : 

"  All  such  as  have  not  been  so  engaged  are  to  be  treated  as  prisoners 
of  war,  and  sent  with  an  armed  guard  to  Tuscaloosa,  Alabama.  .  .  .  They 
are  all  to  be  held  as  prisoners  of  war,  and  held  in  jail  till  the  end  of  the 
war.  Such  as  come  in  voluntarily  and  take  the  oath  of  allegiance  and  sur 
render  their  arms,  are  alone  to  be  treated  with  leniency." 

A  Confederate  officer  has  thus  pictured  the  course  pursued  by  the  Con 
federate  Government  in  crushing  out  the  Union  men,  and  the  results  of 
their  actions :  "  Scouting  parties  were  sent  in  every  direction,  who  ar 
rested  hundreds  suspected  of  disloyalty,  and  incarcerated  them  in  prison, 
until  almost  every  jail  in  the  eastern  end  of  the  State  was  filled  with  poor, 
ignorant,  and,  for  the  most  part,  harmless  men,  who  had  been  guilty  of  no 
crime.  .  .  .  The  rigorous  measures  adopted  by  the  military  commander 
struck  still  greater  terror  into  those  who  had  before  been  Union  men,  and, 
to  avoid  arrest  and,  as  they  thought,  subsequent  punishment,  concealed 
themselves,  thus  giving  a  semblance  of  guilt  to  action  innocent  in  fact  and 


378  MARCHING  TO  VICTORY. 

entirely  natural.  The  greatest  distress  prevails  throughout  the  country  in 
consequence  of  the  various  arrests,  together  with  the  fact  that  the  horses 
and  other  property  have  been  seized  and  appropriated  by  the  soldiers  or 
wantonly  destroyed.  Old  political  animosities  and  private  grudges  have 
been  revived,  and  bad  men  among  our  friends  are  availing  themselves  of 
the  opportunities  afforded  them  by  bringing  Southern  men  to  hunt  down 
with  the  ferocity  of  blood-hounds  all  those  against  whom  they  entertain 
any  feeling  of  dislike."(n) 

So  bitter  the  hatred  of  Secessionists  towards  Union  men  that  it  was 
proposed  to  hunt  down  the  Union  men  with  blood-hounds.(12) 

East  Tennessee  was  a  desolation  in  1862-63.  Only  old  men,  women, 
and  little  children  were  to  be  seen ;  the  Union  men  were  in  prison,  or 
fugitives  secreted  amid  the  mountains,  or  refugees  in  Kentucky,  or  else 
were  swept  by  the  remorseless  conscription  of  the  Confederacy  into  the 
army  to  fight  against  the  flag  they  loved.  Several  thousand  made  their 
way  to  Kentucky,  and  enlisted  in  the  Union  army.  Like  the  patriots  of 
the  Revolution,  they  endured  indescribable  suffering  and  hardship.  In  no 
other  section  of  the  country  was  the  course  pursued  by  the  Confederate 
Government  so  relentless  as  in  this  mountain  region. 

The  sufferings  of  the  people,  their  tales  of  woe,  their  allegiance  to  the 
Union,  deeply  affected  President  Lincoln,  who  urged  the  military  authori 
ties  to  organize  a  movement  for  their  relief. 

Not  till  after  Yicksburg  had  been  taken  by  General  Grant  could  troops 
be  spared  for  such  a  movement.  General  Buckner,  with  several  thousand 
Confederates,  was  at  Knoxville.  The  troops  of  the  Ninth  and  Twenty- 
third  corps,  under  General  Burnside,  were  to  drive  him  out  and  seize  the 
railroad  leading  from  Virginia,  over  which  the  Confederate  troops  could 
pass  from  west  to  east,  or  east  to  west,  as  needed.  If  he  could  hold  that 
railroad  the  Confederate  armies  would  be  greatly  embarrassed.  If  East 
Tennessee  could  be  gained,  it  would  be  a  great  advantage.  General  Rose- 
crans  was'  to  advance  towards  Chattanooga  at  the  same  time  that  Burnside 
was  to  move  for  Knoxville. 

On  August  21, 1863,  we  see  Burnside's  army  advancing  in  two  columns 
— one  under  General  Hartsuff,  moving  through  Somerset,  in  Kentucky, 
near  the  battle-ground  of  Mill  Springs,  the  other  through  Jacksboro,  under 
General  Foster. 

There  was  a  body  of  Confederates  at  Cumberland  Gap,  and  Burnside, 
to  conceal  his  real  movement,  sent  Colonel  De  Courcey  in  that  direction,  as 
if  he  were  about  to  move  his  whole  force  to  gain  that  mountain  gate-way. 

The  army  left  all  heavy  baggage  behind.     The  troops  took,  not  the 


EAST  TENNESSEE. 


379 


BURNSIDE'S  RECEPTION  AT  KNOXVILLE. 

great  travelled  roads,  but  those  little  used,  while  the  wagon-trains  followed 
on  the  great  roads. 

For  fourteen  days  the  troops  marched,  starting  early  in  the  morning 
and  keeping  on  till  the  stars  appeared  at  night.  The  men  were  stronger 
than  the  mules,  for  hundreds  of  animals  dropped  by  the  road-side,  while 
the  men  moved  on,  climbing  the  rugged  hill-sides,  dragging  the  cannon 
when  the  horses  gave  out. 


380 


MARCHING   TO    VICTORY. 


It  was  a  surprise  to  the  Confederate  army  under  Buckner  at  Knoxville, 
who  hastily  left,  retreating  to  Chattanooga  to  join  General  Bragg.  In  four 
teen  days  the  troops  marched  two  hundred  and  fifty  miles. 

How  the  people  welcomed  them !  Wherever  they  appeared,  the  old 
flag,  which  had  been  concealed  under  carpets,  or  sewed  up  in  feather-beds, 
or  buried  in  the  ground,  was  once  more  flung  out  to  the  winds.  Tears  of 
joy  streamed  down  the  cheeks  of  old  men,  while  the  young  men  were 
ready  to  enlist  in  the  service,  to  fight  those  who  had  made  life  so  bitter. 
The  housewives  kept  their  ovens  glowing  day  and  night  to  bake  bread  for 


BURNSIDE  S   ARMY   OCCUPYING   CUMBERLAND   GAP 

From  a  sketch  made  in  1863. 

the  soldiers.  Nothing  was  too  good  to  give  them.  At  one  place  between 
Kingston  and  Knoxville  stood  seventy  women  and  girls  with  bread  and 
fried  chicken,  waving  the  Stars  and  Stripes  and  shouting  "Hurrah  for 
the  Union !" 

The  advance  of  the  Union  troops  was  so  rapid  that  General  Buckner 
did  not  have  time  to  destroy  the  Confederate  arsenal,  machine  shops,  loco 
motives,  and  railway  material,  all  of  which  fell  into  Burnside's  hands.  On 


EAST   TENNESSEE.  381 

September  3d  the  army  entered  Knoxville  amid  the  shouts  of  the  people, 
and  took  possession  of  the  line  of  railroad  leading  to  Virginia.  From  that 
day  on  the  old  flag  was  to  wave  in  triumph  above  the  town. 

It  is  sixty  miles  from  Knoxville  to  Cumberland  Gap,  and  the  route  is 
across  mountain  ranges.  On  the  morning  of  September  4th  a  body  of  Union 
troops  under  General  Shackelford  was  sent  towards  the  Gap.  General 
Burnside  followed,  and  two  days  later  the  troops  were  closing  in  upon  the 
Confederates  in  the  fort,  who  could  not  escape,  and  on  the  ninth  General 
Fraser,  having  no  hope  of  relief,  surrendered  his  two  thousand  five  hundred 
troops,  eleven  cannon,  and  a  large  quantity  of  ammunition.  By  rapid 
inarching,  quick  action,  and  admirable  strategy  East  Tennessee  was  recov 
ered  to  the  Union  without  a  battle. 

Let  us  now  leave  the  mountains  of  Eastern  Tennessee,  and  travel  west 
ward  to  the  beautiful  plains  of  Kansas,  where  the  prairie  flowers  are  in 
bloom— not  to  behold  the  beauty  of  the  landscape,  nor  to  inhale  the  fra 
grance  of  the  wild  roses  or  jasmine  along  the  tangled  thickets  of  its  streams, 
but  to  read  the  record  of  a  bloody  tragedy  —  an  exhibition  of  hate  and 
vengeance,  prompted  by  the  spirit  of  slavery. 

In  1854.  when  Kansas  was  made  a  territory  and  its  lands  thrown  open 
to  settlement,  and  when  the  Missouri  Compromise  of  1820,  which  prohib 
ited  slavery  north  of  the  northern  boundary  of  Missouri,  was  repealed,  there 
was  a  struggle  between  freedom  and  slavery  for  the  possession  of  the  country 
("Building  the  Nation,"  p.  407).  A  company  of  free-State  emigrants  from 
Massachusetts  laid  out  the  town  of  Lawrence — in  honor  of  Mr.  Amos  A. 
Lawrence,  who  had  contributed  money  to  aid  them.  Through  the  struggle 
for  the  possession  of  the  territory  during  the  administration  of  President 
Buchanan,  Lawrence  had  been  the  town  hated  above  all  others  by  the  slave- 
holding  Missourians,  who  had  been  defeated  in  all  their  schemes  to  make 
Kansas  a  slave  State.  "With  its  free  schools,  its  attractions  for  settlers,  the 
town  had  prospered,  and  in  1863  was  one  of  the  most  beautiful  in  the 
State. 

There  was  no  Confederate  army  in  Missouri,  but  in  the  western  coun 
ties,  bordering  on  Kansas,  were  many  lawless  desperadoes,  who  delighted 
to  make  midnight  incursions  into  Kansas  to  steal  horses,  drive  off  cattle, 
robbing,  plundering,  and  shooting  the  settlers.  One  of  the  leaders  of  the 
gang  went  by  the  name  of  W.  C.  Quantrell.  It  is  said  that  it  was  not  his 
true  name  ;  that  he  had  left  home  and  friends  in  Maryland  to  become  a 
ruffian  in  the  far  West. 

Early  in  the  summer  of  1863  he  organized  a  band  of  guerillas,  who 
robbed  and  plundered  the  hamlet  of  Olathe,  killing  seven  of  the  citizens. 


382 


MARCHING  TO   VICTORY. 


A  Tew  nights  after,  he  plundered  and  burned  the  town  of  Shawnee,  and 
killed  several  of  the  inhabitants.  Word  came  to  the  people  of  Lawrence 
that  he  intended  to  burn  that  town,  whereupon  the  citizens  formed  a  mili 
tary  company,  and  a  company  of  soldiers  was  sent  by  General  Ewing  to 
protect  the  town.  Weeks  went  by,  and  as  Qnantrell  did  not  come,  the 
soldiers  were  withdrawn,  and  the  people  forgot  to  be  vigilant.  Their 
arms  were  deposited  in  a  building  for  safe  keeping.  Quantrell  was  biding 


MASSACRE   OF   THE   CITIZENS   OF   LAWRENCE. 


his  time.  His  followers  were  at  work  on  their  farms— peaceable  citizens, 
seemingly — or  else  were  hiding  in  out-of-the-way  places,  waiting  for  his 
signal. 

On  the  night  of  August  20th  he  gathered  his  band  —  ruffians  with 
long  hair,  full  beards,  wearing  greasy  shirts  and  broad -brimmed  hats, 
armed  with  revolving  pistols  and  rifles — all  on  horseback.  The  sun  had 
gone  down,  but  the  moon  was  shining  when  they  started.  It  was  a  march 
of  forty  miles  to  Lawrence.  Quantrell  did  not  wish  to  reach  it  before 
daybreak,  and  they  moved  at  a  slow  trot  across  the  prairie.  No  one  saw 
them.  No  sentinel  was  on  watch  in  the  streets  of  the  doomed  town.  Day 
was  dawning  when,  with  a  yell,  a  whoop  as  wild  and  barbaric  as  that  of  a 
tribe  of  Indians,  the  desperadoes  dashed  through  the  streets.  Men  who 
sprang  from  their  beds  and  rushed  to  window  or  door  to  see  what  was 


EAST   TENNESSEE.  383 

going  on,  the  next  moment  were  shot  down.  There  was  only  one  brick 
building  in  town — the  Eldridge  House.  Quantrell  was  quick  to  secure  it ; 
and  the  guests — men,  women,  and  children — were  told  to  dress  quickly, 
and  were  then  marched  to  the  Whitney  House,  where  the  murderers  es 
tablished  their  headquarters.  Some  of  the  citizens,  including  Senator 
James  H.  Lane,  knowing  that  no  mercy  would  be  shown  them,  escaped 
into  a  cornfield.  The  mayor  of  the  city  secreted  himself  in  a  well. 

Quantrell,  after  establishing  a  line  of  skirmishers  around  the  town  to 
prevent  the  escape  of  the  inhabitants,  issued  this  order :  "  Kill  every 
man  ;  burn  every  house."  From  sunrise  till  past  ten  o'clock  the  massacre 
went  on.  The  sounds  which  broke  the  stillness  of  the  morning  were  the 
cracking  of  the  pistol,  the  pleading  of  wives  that  their  husbands  might 
be  spared — of  children  that  their  fathers  might  not  be  murdered — of  de 
fenceless  men  that  they  might  not  be  shot.  The  pleadings  and  prayers 
fell  upon  hearts  of  stone.  When  all  the  men  they  could  find  had  been 
murdered — when  there  was  no  more  opportunity  to  exercise  fiendish  hate 
and  malignity  —  when  they  had  ransacked  all  the  dwellings,  and  taken 
whatever  pleased  their  fancy — money,  watches,  jewellery,  clothing — the 
houses  were  set  on  fire. 

A  set  of  ruffians,  crazy  with  whiskey  and  rum,  came  to  the  Whitney 
House,  with  oaths  demanding  that  the  guests  of  the  Eldridge  House, 
strangers  in  the  town,  be  brought  out.  "  I  am  going  to  kill  somebody," 
said  one,  flourishing  his  pistol.  "  Then  kill  me,"  said  a  woman,  stepping 
before  him,  who  had  seen  her  husband  shot.  The  ruffian,  abashed  by  her 
action,  could  not  fire  at  her,  and  departed.  Quantrell  had  eaten  a  good 
breakfast,  which  he  had  compelled  the  landlord  of  the  Whitney  House  to 
give  him.  It  was  past  ten  o'clock.  He  knew  that  the  settlers  would  soon 
be  gathering  to  cut  off  his  retreat  to  Missouri. 

"I  bid  you  good-morning,  ladies.  I  hope  when  we  meet  again  it  will 
be  under  more  favorable  circumstances,"  he  said,  as  he  leaped  into  his 
saddle  and  rode  away,  leaving  one  hundred  and  eighty-three  corpses  in 
the  streets  —  peaceful  citizens,  massacred  from  hate  and  thirst  for  ven 
geance.  One  hundred  and  eighty-five  buildings  were  in  flames.(13)  None 
of  the  murderers  were  arrested,  or  made  to  suffer  for  their  crimes.  They 
were  not  even  declared  to  be  outlaws.  On  May  11, 1888,  sixteen  of  them 
assembled  at  Blue  Springs,  Missouri,  to  celebrate  the  massacre  by  recount 
ing  their  deeds  of  blood.  Quantrell  died  a  peaceful  death  in  the  Sisters 
Hospital,  Louisville,  Kentucky,  June  5, 1865  ;  but  the  mother  of  the  dead 
chief  murderer,  Caroline  Quantrell,  journeyed  from  Ohio  to  Missouri  to 
be  present  at  the  gathering.  This  the  report  published  in  the  newspapers 


384  MARCHING  TO   VICTORY. 

of  the  day :  "  The  men  spoke  of  their  bloody  murders  and  fiendish  crimes 
without  the  slightest  hesitation." 

Kind,  lenient,  forbearing,  great  in  its  benevolence,  unparalleled  in  its 
charity,  that  government  of  a  people  which  could  overlook  such  a  crime 
as  the  massacre  of  Lawrence,  brought  about  by  the  secession  of  the  cotton- 
growing  States  and  the  establishment  of  the  Confederacy. 

So,  on  this  far-distant  frontier,  the  spirit  which  brought  about  the  con 
spiracy  against  the  Government  and  inaugurated  the  war — which  attempt 
ed  to  establish  a  government  based  on  human  slavery — massacred  in  cold 
blood  peaceful  citizens  who  were  taking  no  part  in  the  war. 


NOTES  TO  CHAPTER  XVIII. 

(  ')  Brownlow's  Book,  p.  279. 

( 2)  John  R.  Branner,  Records  of  the  War  Department,  Series  I.,  vol.  iv.,  p.  231. 

( 3)  R.  G.  Fain,  idem,  p.  231. 

( 4)  A.  G.  Graham,  idem,  p.  239. 

(  5)  Governor  Harris,  idem,  p.  240. 

( 6)  John  R.  Branner,  idem,  p.  243. 

(  7)  S.  A.  M.  Wood,  idem,  248. 

( 8)  Idem,  p.  299. 

(  9)  Brownlow's  Book,  pp.  305-329. 

(10)  Benjamin  to  Wood,  Records  of  the  War  Department,  Series  I.,  vol.  vii.,  p.  701 

(")  H.  C.  Young  to  D.  M.  Currin,  idem,  p.  777. 

(12)  Memphis  Appeal,  Advertisement  quoted  in  Brownlow's  Book,  p.  349. 

(13)  Annals  of  Kansas. 


FROM  MURFREESBORO  TO  CHICKAMAUGA.  385 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

FROM   MURFREESBORO   TO   CHICKAMAUGA. 

THE  year  1863  opened  with  the  Union  army  under  General  Rosecrans 
victorious  on  the  battle-field  of  Stone  River  ("Drum -beat  of  the 
Nation,"  chap.  xvii.). 

The  Confederates  under  General  Bragg  had  attacked,  and  after  a  two 
days'  struggle  had  been  defeated.  Had  we  been  in  the  camps  of  the  Con 
federate  army  at  midnight,  after  the  second  day's  engagement,  we  should 
have  seen  Major-generals  Cheatham  and  Withers  writing  this  letter  to 
Xjreneral  Bragg : 

"  "We  deem  it  our  duty  to  say  to  you  frankly  that  in  our  judgment  this 
army  should  be  promptly  put  in  retreat.  You  have  but  three  brigades 
that  are  at  all  reliable,  and  even  some  of  these  that  are  more  or  less  de 
moralized.  .  .  .  We  fear  great  disaster  from  the  condition  of  things  now 
existing,  and  think  it  should  be  averted  if  possible."  Lieutenant-general 
Polk  wrote :  "  I  greatly  fear  the  consequences  of  another  engagement  at 
this  place  on  the  ensuing  day.  We  could  now  perhaps  get  off  with  some 
safety  and  with  some  credit  if  the  affair  was  well  managed. "(') 

Acting  upon  the  advice  of  his  subordinate  officers,  General  Bragg  re 
treated  in  the  night  from  Murfreesboro  southward  to  Shelbyville  and 
Tullahoma,  both  strong,  defensive  positions. 

Through  the  winter  and  spring  and  into  the  summer  the  Army  of  the 
Cumberland  remained  at  Murfreesboro.  There  could  be  no  marching  in 
midwinter  or  spring,  for  there  were  frequent  rains,  the  streams  were  all 
swollen,  and  the  mud  deep  on  all  the  roads.  General  Rosecrans  was 
studying  the  country,  obtaining  information,  and  waiting  for  the  organiza 
tion  of  the  army  which  was  to  move  from  Kentucky  into  Eastern  Ten 
nessee,  under  General  Burnside  (chapter  xviii.). 

The  Confederate  army  was  behind  Elk  River,  a  stream  which  rises 
in  the  Cumberland  Mountains,  flows  west  to  Duck  River,  and  empties 
into  the  Tennessee.  The  railroad  from  Murfreesboro  to  Stevenson  and 
Chattanooga  crosses  it  at  Wartrace,  where  General  Bragg  established  his 
headquarters.  Shelbyville  is  ten  miles  south-west  of  Wartrace,  where 
25 


386  MARCHING  TO  VICTORY. 

General  Folk's  corps  was  stationed.  Tullahoma  is  on  the  railroad  eighteen 
miles  south  of  Wartrace.  It  is  the  region  of  the  Cumberland  Mountains 
— a  country  broken  and  rugged — hills,  valleys,  mountains,  streams,  ravines, 
gorges — a  section  called  the  "  barrens  "  by  the  country  people. 

There  are  two  turnpikes  between  Murfreesboro  and  Shelbyville — the 
Murfreesboro  and  the  Eaglesville  —  fifteen  miles  apart,  both  excellent 
roads,  surfaced  with  pounded  stone.  The  other  roads  were  muddy  in  the 
rainy  season.  Through  the  weeks  of  June  General  Rosecrans  was  accumu 
lating  supplies.  His  cavalry  had  been  increased  during  the  spring,  and 
the  regiments  were  drilling  every  day.  Up  to  this  time  the  Confederate 
cavalry  had  been  much  more  effective  than  that  of  the  Union  army. 

General  Rosecrans  had  no  intention  of  advancing  to  Shelbyville  to 
send  his  troops  against  the  strong  intrenchments  constructed  by  General 
Bragg.  By  a  well-planned  and  admirably  executed  movement  he  turned 
the  right  flank  of  Bragg's  army,  and  compelled  the  Confederates  to  aban 
don  the  position  which  they  had  fortified  and  retreat  across  the  Tennessee 
River  to  Chattanooga,  from  which  Bragg  had  advanced  eleven  months  be-* 
fore  to  invade  Kentucky  ("  Drum-beat  of  the  Nation,"  chap,  xiv.) 

By  his  strategy  Rosecrans  had  forced  Bragg  to  abandon  the  State  of 
Tennessee,  but  it  carried  the  Confederates  nearer  their  supplies,  while  the 
Union  troops,  in  following,  were  increasing  the  distance  between  themselves 
and  their  base  of  supplies  at  Nashville,  compelling  Rosecrans  to  detail  a 
large  number  of  troops  to  guard  the  railroad.  General  Halleck  in  Wash 
ington  gave  peremptory  orders  for  Rosecrans  to  push  on ;  but  the  railroad 
had  to  be  repaired,  and  food  brought  from  Nashville,  before  the  army 
could  advance.  The  country  was  poor  and  the  Confederates  had  exhausted 
its  resources.  Rosecrans  moved  on  to  the  Tennessee  River,  and  planned  a 
new  campaign — the  most  difficult  of  all — to  cross  that  stream  and  compel 
the  Confederate  army  to  abandon  Chattanooga. 

The  Tennessee  River,  flowing  from  the  east  for  a  long  distance,  has  a 
general  south-western  course.  The  village  of  Chattanooga,  on  its  southern 
bank,  in  1863  contained  about  one  thousand  five  hundred  inhabitants.  It 
is  situated  in  a  mountain  gate-way.  Lookout  Mountain  is  a  long,  high 
ridge  lying  in  part  parallel  to  the  river,  rising  two  thousand  four  hun 
dred  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea,  and  presents  on  its  northern  face 
an  almost  perpendicular  bluff ;  but  its  eastern  and  western  sides  are  more 
sloping  and  partially  wooded. 

Between  Lookout  and  the  Tennessee  is  a  lower  ridge,  portions  of  which 
are  called  the  Raccoon  Mountains,  and  other  portions  Sand  Mountains. 
Eastward  of  Lookout  is  Missionary  Ridge,  twenty-five  miles  long.  West 


FROM   MURFREESBORO  TO   CHICKAMAUGA. 


389 


Chickamanga  Creek  flows  along  its  eastern  base  and  empties  into  the 
Tennessee  at  Chattanooga.  East  of  the  creek  is  still  another  ridge,  called 
Pigeon  Mountain. 

The  whole  country  is  one  of  long  mountain  ranges  lying  parallel  to 
each  other,  with  streams  flowing  northward  to  the  Tennessee  and  south 
ward  to  the  Coosa,  whose  waters  flow  into  the  Gulf  of  Mexico. 

The  railroad  to  Atlanta  runs  due  east  from  Chattanooga  five  miles, 
bends  south-west,  crosses  the  Georgia  line  just  above  the  town  of  King- 
gold,  and  then  runs  on  to  Dalton,  where  it  forms  a  junction  with  the  rail 
road  coming  down  from  Knoxville,  Eastern  Tennessee. 


While  General  Eosecrans  was  preparing  to  move  against  Bragg,  a 
Union  army  under  General  Burnside  was  marching  from  Louisville 
through  Kentucky  south-east  to  gain  possession  of  East  Tennessee. 

General  Bragg  at  Chattanooga  was  in  a  much  stronger  position  than 
at  Tullahoma.  The  Tennessee  River,  wide  and  deep,  protected  his  front. 
To  turn  his  right  flank  Rosecrans  would  be  compelled  to  make  a  long 
march  across  several  mountain  ranges,  along  poor  roads,  and  then  would 
be  obliged  to  cross  the  Tennessee.  He  would  be  far  from  his  base  of 
supplies.  If  he  attempted  to  turn  his  left  flank  he  must  first  cross  the 
Tennessee,  then  ascend  and  descend  two  or  three  mountain  ranges  through 
gaps  wide  apart, 


390 


MARCHING  TO    VICTORY. 


The  problem  before  Eosecrans  was  a  movement  which  would  compel 
Bragg  to  retire  from  Chattanooga.  How  could  that  be  done  ?  Certainly 
not  by  attempting  to  bridge  the  Tennessee,  where  all  of  Bragg's  cannon 
would  hurl  shot,  shell,  and  canister  upon  the  Engineer  Corps  while  placing 
their  pontoons.  He  did  not  wish  to  fight  a  battle  except  upon  ground 
of  his  own  choosing.  He  determined  to  cross  the  Tennessee  Eiver  and 
the  mountain  ranges,  and  then  threaten  Bragg's  communications  with 
Atlanta — the  railroad  over  which  he  received  his  supplies.  The  army 
was  to  move  from  different  points  below  Chattanooga.  Crittenden's 
corps,  after  crossing,  was  to  advance  up  the  southern  bank  of  the  river 
upon  Chattanooga,  while  Thomas  and  McCook  were  to  climb  Raccoon 
and  Sand  ridges  by  different  routes,  descend  into  Lookout  Valley,  ascend 
Lookout  Eidge,  pass  through  gaps,  and  descend  the  other  side — Thomas 

upon  the  little  town  of  Lafay-. 
ette  and  McCook  upon  Sum- 
jnerville,  twenty  miles  farther 
south. 

It  was  believed  that  Bragg 
would  retreat  from  Chattanoo 
ga,  and  that  Crittenden's  corps 
could  take  possession  of  it  and 
move  down  the  Chickamauga 
Valley  and  join  the  other  two 
corps. 

The  gap  through  which 
Thomas  would  cross  Lookout 
Eidge  was  twenty- six  miles 
south  of  Chattanooga,  while 
the  gap  which  McCook  would 
utilize  was  twenty  miles  south 
of  Thomas,  thus  making  it  for 
ty-six  miles  from'Crittenden  to 
McCook. 

The  first  thing  to  be  done  was  to  deceive  Bragg  as  to  the  real  inten 
tions.  To  accomplish  this  General  Hazen,  of  Crittenden's  corps,  with  his 
own  brigade  and  Wagner's  and  Wilder's  brigades  of  mounted  infantry 
and  Minty's  brigade  of  cavalry,  crossed  Walden's  Eidge  in  Tennessee  and 
marched  eastward  to  Poe's  Tavern.  The  cavalry  galloped  along  the  river, 
made  their  appearance  at  all  the  fords  as  if  to  cross.  General  Wilder 
placed  his  artillery  in  position  and  opened  fire  upon  the  town,  whereupon 


KOSECRANS'S  MOVEMENT  TO  CHICKAMAUGA. 


FROM  MURFREESBORO  TO  CH1CKAMAUGA.  391 

Bragg  removed  his  supplies,  and  ordered  Anderson's  brigade,  which  was 
guarding  the  river  at  Bridgeport,  to  leave  that  point  and  hasten  up  the 
river.  For  more  than  one  hundred  miles  eastward  of  Chattanooga  Union 
troops  appeared  upon  the  bank  of  the  river,  which  led  Bragg  to  con 
clude  that  the  crossing  of  the  Union  army  would  be  somewhere  above  the 
town. 

While  the  cavalry  and  Hazen's  command  were  thus  making  feints, 
General  Burnside,  after  a  long  and  toilsome  march  across  the  Cumberland 
Mountains,  reached  Knoxville,  as  we  shall  see  in  another  chapter,  compel 
ling  General  Buckner,  who  was  there  commanding  a  Confederate  force  of 
nearly  twenty  thousand,  to  evacuate  the  place. 

Reinforcements  were  hastening  to  Bragg  —  Buckner  from  East  Ten 
nessee  ;  troops  came  from  Johnston's  army  in  Mississippi ;  Confederate 
soldiers  who  had  been  paroled  by  Grant  at  Yicksburg,  in  violation  of  the 
agreement  at  the  time  of  their  surrender,  were  ordered  to  hold  positions 
in  Mississippi,  relieving  brigades  which  were  sent  to  Bragg.  Hood's  and 
McLaws's  divisions  of  Longstreet's  corps,  from  Lee's  army  in  Virginia, 
numbering  fifteen  thousand,  were  on  their  way,  but  had  not  arrived. 

On  August  21st  Rosecrans's  army,  after  marching  across  the  Cum 
berland  Mountains,  was  on  the  banks  of  the  Tennessee,  stretched  out 
nearly  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles.  A  portion  of  the  pontoons  had  ar 
rived,  but  not  enough  to  build  all  the  bridges  needed.  At  one  of  the 
crossings  the  river  was  two  thousand  seven  hundred  feet  wide,  at  the  nar 
rowest  place  it  was  one  thousand  six  hundred  feet.  General  Brannan's 
division  constructed  rafts,  and  the  soldiers  piled  their  clothes  and  guns, 
knapsacks  and  cartridge-boxes  on  them,  and  by  wading  and  swimming 
reached  the  other  shore.  One  division  crossed  in  small  boats.  The  cross 
ings  were  at  Shell  Mound,  twenty-five  miles  below  Chattanooga,  at  Bridge 
port,  ten  miles  farther  down,  and  Caperton's  Ferry,  ten  miles  below 
Bridgeport,  opposite  Stevenson's.  A  trestle-bridge  was  constructed,  involv 
ing  great  labor. 

General  Bragg  was  informed  by  a  citizen  on  the  30th  that  the  Union 
army  had  crossed  the  Tennessee,  and  was  moving  south.  (2)  He  saw  that 
it  was  an  attempt  to  get  between  his  army  arid  Atlanta,  his  base  of  sup 
plies,  and  began  to  withdraw  his  troops  from  Chattanooga  towards  Lafay 
ette,  east  of  the  Pigeon  Range. 

The  Union  troops  moved  on  to  Sand  and  Raccoon  mountains,  over 
which  there  were  only  narrow  roads.  Each  regiment  was  provided  with 
shovels  and  axes.  The  soldiers  marched  up  the  mountain-side,  stacked 
their  arms,  and  went  to  work  improving  the  roads.  Then  the  wagons  and 


392  MARCHING  TO  VICTORY. 

cannon,  with  horses  doubled,  began  to  wind  up  the  zigzag  way.  Details 
of  men  were  stationed  at  the  steepest  places  to  assist  the  struggling  horses 
by  lifting  at  the  wheels  or  pushing  behind.  A  soldier  with  a  block  of 
wood  followed  each  wagon  to  trig  the  wheels.  Day  and  night  they  toiled. 
When  they  reached  the  top  of  the  mountain  they  had  to  construct  a  road 
down  the  other  side.  It  was  a  difficult  descent  for  the  heavy  teams.  The 
wheels  were  chained,  but  the  hills  were  steep  and  there  were  sharp  turns. 
Some  of  the  wagons  were  upset,  and  so  badly  broken  that  they  were  aban 
doned.  It  took  three  days  to  cross  the  mountains 'and  descend  into  Look 
out  Valley,  where  Crittenden's  corps  turned  north-east  and  marched  tow 
ards  Chattanooga,  while  Thomas  and  McCook  began  the  ascent  of  the 
Lookout  Range  by  different  roads. 

On  the  9th  of  September,  Crittenden,  passing  round  the  northern  end 
of  Lookout,  entered  Chattanooga,  the  last  of  the  Confederates  leaving 
as  he  advanced.  A  brigade  was  detailed  to  hold  it,  while  the  others 
marched  towards  Chickamauga.  At  that  hour  McCook  was  on  the  sum 
mit  of  Lookout  Range,  forty-six  miles  south  of  Chattanooga,  and  Thomas 
was  also  on  the  same  range,  more  than  twenty  miles  distant.  Rosecrans 
had  accomplished  what  he  set  out  to  do.  He  had  gained  Chattanooga 
without  a  battle.  He  might  at  that  moment  have  withdrawn  Thomas  and 
McCook  by  ordering  them  to  retrace  their  steps  into  Lookout  Valley,  fol 
low  Crittenden  into  Chattanooga,  and  out  to  Missionary  Ridge,  and  thus 
have  concentrated  his  army.  He  could  then  have  built  his  bridges,  brought 
up  supplies,  and  been  in  position  for  a  new  movement,  or  waited  for  Bragg 
to  attack  him.  Rosecrans  believed  that  Bragg  was  retreating  to  Atlanta. 
He  did  not  know  that  Longstreet's  corps  was  on  its  way  from  Virginia. 
The  despatches  which  came  from  General  Halleck  in  Washington  were 
misleading.  This  came  August  20th  :  "  It  has  been  reported  for  some 
days  that  some  portion  of  Bragg's  army  has  been  sent  to  Richmond  to 
reinforce  Lee."  This,  September  6th :  "  There  is  no  reason  to  suppose 
that  any  of  Lee's  troops  have  been  detached  except  a  small  force  at 
Charleston."  On  September  llth  Halleck  telegraphed,  "It  is  report 
ed  here  by  deserters  that  a  part  of  Bragg's  army  is  reinforcing  Lee." 
General  Halleck  and  General  Rosecrans  both  believed  that  the  Con 
federates  were  retreating.  Bragg  was  sending  men  into  Rosecrans's  lines 
who  pretended  to  be  deserters,  who  said  that  he  was  retreating.  This 
is  what  he  says  of  his  movements :  "  On  the  9th  of  September  it  was 
ascertained  that  a  column,  estimated  at  from  four  to  eight  thousand, 
had  crossed  Lookout  Mountain  by  way  of  Stevens's  and  Cooper's  gaps. 
Thrown  off  his  guard  by  our  rapid  movements  —  apparently  in  retreat, 


FROM  MURFREESBORO  TO  CHICKAMAUGA.  395 

when  in  reality  we  had  concentrated  opposite  his  centre,  and  deceived 
by  the  information  from  deserters  and  others  sent  into  his  lines  —  the 
enemy  pressed  on  his  columns  to  intercept  us,  and  thus  exposed  himself 

in  detail."(3) 

On  the  evening  of  the  ninth  General  Crittenden's  division  took  posses 
sion  of  Rossville,  where  the  main  road  from  Chattanooga  southward  crosses 
Missionary  Ridge.  At  that  hour  Negley's  division  of  Thomas's  corps  was 
moving  down  the  eastern  face  of  Lookout  Mountain  into  a  valley  called 
McLemore's  Cove,  between  Lookout  and  Pigeon  mountains.  It  is  formed 
by  a  spur  which  runs  out  from  Lookout,  and  curves  round  to  the  east  and 
north.  Negley's  skirmishers  came  upon  a  body  of  Confederates,  who  re 
treated  several  miles.  The  next  morning  Negley  moved  on  towards  Bug 
Gap,  in  the  Pigeon  Range.  As  the  soldiers  came  to  the  base  of  the  mount 
ain  they  looked  up  and  saw  a  very  steep  ascent,  and  the  mountain-side 
covered  with  a  dense  forest  growth,'  and  a  ledge  of  limestone  rock  crown 
ing  the  summit  like  the  white  crest  of  an  ocean  billow.  Soon  they  came 
upon  trees  which  had  been  felled  across  the  road,  and  upon  Confederate 
pickets,  who  fired  upon  them.  General  Negley  knew  that  there  was  an 
other  road  across  the  mountain  north,  through  Catlett's  Gap,  and  pos 
sibly  that,  while  he  was  climbing  the  side  towards  Dug  Gap,  Bragg 
might  be  sending  a  force  through  Catlett's  to  fall  upon  his  rear.  The 
scouts  came  in  with  information  that  there  was  a  large  force  of  Con 
federates  on  the  mountain  at  Dug  Gap,  and  another  large  body  at  Cat 
lett's.  General  Baird's  division  of  Thomas's  corps  had  descended  Look 
out  Mountain  through  Stevens's  Gap,  and  was  in  the  valley  not  far  away. 
General  Thomas  had  advanced  cautiously  —  not  so  fast  as  Rosecrans 
wished ;  but  in  the  end,  as  we  shall  see,  it  was  well  for  the  army  that  he 
did  not  hasten. 

While  Thomas  was  thus  slowly  advancing  towards  Dug  Gap  and  the 
town  of  Dalton,  east  of  it,  McCook  was  far  away  to  the  south,  marching 
towards  the  town  of  Alpine.  Two  of  his  divisions  were  across  the  range, 
and  one  west  of  it ;  the  cavalry  was  scouting  the  country  towards  Rome, 
when  he  discovered  that  Bragg  was  not  retreating,  but  concentrating  his 
army,  intending  to  attack  Rosecrans  and  destroy  the  widely  separated  corps 
one  after  the  other.  On  the  10th  of  September  the  Union  army  was  in  a 
perilous  position.  From  Rossville  General  Wood,  with  two  brigades,  ad 
vanced  south  to  Lee  &  Gordon's  mill.  A  negro  told  him  that  the  whole 
Confederate  army  was  on  the  other  side  of  Chickamauga  Creek,  in  the 
vicinity  of  Lafayette.  General  Wood  drove  the  Confederate  skirmishers 
before  him,  and  at  night,  when  he  went  into  bivouac  at  the  mill,  he  could 


396  MARCHING  TO  VICTORY. 

see  the  whole  country  towards  the  town  of  Lafayette  aglow  with  the  Con 
federate  camp-fires.  From  Rossville  Crittenden  had  marched,  with  Yan 
Cleve's  and  Palmer's  divisions,  eastward  to  Hi nggold,  where  they  joined  the 
brigades  of  cavalry  under  Wilder  and  Minty.  The  divisions  of  Crittenden's 
corps  were  widely  separated — the  two  divisions  being  twenty-four  miles 
south-east  from  Chattanooga,  and  eight  miles  east  of  Wood's  two  brigades 
at  the  mill.  They  were,  by  the  nearest  possible  line  of  communication, 
seventy  miles  distant  from  McCook,  and  fifty  miles  from  Thomas.  Crit 
tenden  continued  to  advance  from  Ringgold  southward — the  Confederates 
falling  back  towards  Tunnel  Hill,  where  the  railroad  passes  through  a  tun 
nel  towards  Dalton.  Rosecrans  did  not  know  that  by  ordering  Critten 
den  to  make  such  a  movement  he  was  sending  him  to  the  rear  of  Bragg's 
whole  army,  reinforced  by  Breckinridge,  and  by  fifteen  thousand  from 
Johnston.  Going  now  south  along  Chickamauga  Valley,  we  see  Thomas 
on  the  east  side  of  Lookout,  and  marching  towards  Pigeon  Mountain,  with 
Negley  in  advance,  and  Baird's  division  near  enough  to  support  him ;  but 
he  is  isolated  from  Crittenden  and  from  McCook. 

General  Bragg,  instead  of  permitting  Rosecrans  to  still  further  separate 
his  corps,  instead  of  keeping  up  the  delusion  that  he  was  retreating,  deter 
mined  to  attack  Thomas  by  falling  on  Negley ;  but  that  officer  discover 
ing  what  he  was  intending  to  do,  joined  Baird,  and  both  fell  back  towards 
Stevens's  Gap,  thus  concentrating  Thomas's  corps.  Bragg  had  ordered 
General  Hindman  to  advance  from  Catlett's  Gap  and  attack  Negley's 
left  flank ;  and  when  the  cannonade  echoed  along  the  valley,  Cleburne  was 
to  advance  from  Dug  Gap.  The  morning  came;  none  of  Hindman's 
cannon  were  heard.  The  forenoon  passed ;  still  no  artillery.  Courier 
after  courier  was  sent  to  know  the  reason  of  the  silence. 

It  is  not  known  why  Hindman  was  not  ready — Bragg  does  not  inform 
us  in  his  report ;  but  he  had  said  to  Hindman,  "  If  you  find  the  enemy  in 
such  great  force  that  it  is  not  prudent  to  attack,  then  fall  back  through 
Catlett's  Gap  to  Lafayette."  At  three  o'clock  Hindman's  guns  began  to 
play,  and  Cleburne  advanced. 

Two  companies  of  the  Nineteenth  Illinois,  of  Negley's  division,  were 
behind  a  wall.  When  Cleburne's  line  came  on  suddenly  the  wall  was 
all  aflame,  and  thirty  of  Cleburne's  men  went  down.  The  next  moment 
two  of  Negley's  guns  on  a  hill  in  the  rear  began  to  hurl  shells  into 
the  advancing  column,  which  came  to  a  stand -still.  Cleburne  saw 
that  Negley  and  Baird  could  not  be  successfully  assailed,  and  withdrew 
his  troops.  (4) 

General  Bragg  planned  another  movement.     He  saw  that  Crittenden's 


FROM   MURFREESBORO   TO   CHICKAMAUGA.  397 

corps  was  divided ;  that  General  Wood,  with  two  Union  brigades,  was  at 
Lee  &  Gordon's  mill,  while  Palmer's  and  Yan  Cleve's  divisions  were  eight 
miles  east,  advancing  from  Ringgold.  It  would  be  easy  to  annihilate 
Wood,  and  then  turn  round  and  crush  Crittenden's  two  divisions  at  King- 
gold.  Having  done  this,  he  could  then  wheel  in  the  other  direction  and 
strike  Thomas.  General  Folk's  corps  was  only  three  miles  from  Lee  & 
Gordon's  mill.  He  sent  this  message  to  Polk :  "  You  have  a  fine  oppor 
tunity  of  crushing  Crittenden  in  detail,  and  I  hope  that  you  will  avail 
yourself  of  it  to-morrow  morning."  It  was  issued  at  six  o'clock  on  the 
evening  of  September  12th.  Bragg  became  very  earnest,  and  sent  two 
other  messages  in  the  evening,  ordering  Polk  to  attack  at  daylight.  He 
was  surprised  to  receive  this  message  from  Polk  just  before  midnight :  "  I 
have  taken  up  a  strong  position  for  defence,  but  need  reinforcements." 
Bragg  wrote  in  reply,  "Do  not  defer  your  attack.  Success  depends 
upon  the  promptness  of  your  movement.  Buckner's  corps  will  be  in  sup 
porting  distance." 

The  Confederate  Commander-in-chief  was  ten  miles  distant  from  Polk, 
and  did  not  know  that  while  he  was  writing  these  despatches  Crittenden 
was  turning  back  from  Ringgold,  and  marching  west  to  join  Wood  at  the 
mill.  Polk  had  discovered  it,  and  so  had  called  for  reinforcements,  doubt 
less  expecting  that  Crittenden  was  about  to  attack  him.  Daylight  ap 
peared  in  the  east  September  13th ;  Bragg  heard  no  cannon.  The  sun 
came  up;  still  no  sound  of  battle.  He  was  impatient,  called  for  his 
horse,  rode  to  Polk's  headquarters,  and  found  that  officer  quietly  eating 
his  breakfast,  his  troops  in  bivouac,  and  no  arrangements  made  for  bring 
ing  on  the  battle.  General  Bragg  gave  utterance  to  very  bitter  words. 
In  his  report  he  charged  Polk  with  having  overturned  all  his  plans. 

But  the  question  arises  why  Bragg,  now  that  he  was  himself  on  the 
ground,  did  not  attack.  He  had  half  of  his  army  there.  He  greatly  out 
numbered  Crittenden,  but  he  issued  no  orders — did  nothing  for  four  days. 
Probably  it  will  never  be  known  just  why  he  waited.  Not  till  the  17th 
did  he  make  any  movement,  during  which  time  a  great  change  was  taking 
place  in  the  position  of  the  Union  troops. 

On  the  12th  Rosecrans  had  discovered  that,  instead  of  retreating,  the 
Confederates  were  concentrating.  He  saw  that  the  pleasant  stories  told 
by  pretended  deserters  were  lies;  that  Bragg  was  intending  to  cut  him 
up  piecemeal ;  that  there  must  be  rapid  marching  to  join  Crittenden 
and  secure  his  connection  with  Chattanooga.  Couriers  rode  with  orders 
to  McCook,  who  was  at  Alpine,  to  make  all  haste  northward.  McCook 
had  already  sent  his  trains  back  to  the  top  of  Lookout  Range.  The 


398  MARCHING  TO  VICTORY. 

* 

order  reached  him  at  midnight  of  the  13th.  He  could  not  march  by 
the  shortest  road,  for  it  was  held  by  the  Confederates,  but  must  recross 
Lookout  Mountain  into  Lookout  Valley,  and  then  reclimb  the  mountain 
to  Stevens's  Gap  before  he  could  join  Thomas.  Not  till  McCook  was 
well  on  his  way  did  Rosecrans  dare  to  give  orders  for  Thomas's  corps  to 
move  towards  Crittenden. 

It  seems  very  strange  that  Bragg,  with  his  army  concentrated  at  La 
fayette,  should  have  waited  so  long,  with  Crittenden  isolated  and  alone  so 
near  him.  Possibly  it  was  for  the  arrival  of  Longstreet's  corps,  which  was 
on  its  roundabout  way  through  Georgia,  but  which  was  belated  because 
the  railroads  were  so  badly  worn.  Possibly  there  was  another  reason  why 
he  waited.  He  not  only  had  a  violent  temper,  but  was  very  firmly  set 
in  his  opinions.  Lieutenant  Baylor  reported  on  the  evening  of  the  12th 
to  General  Hill  that  McCook's  corps  was  at  Alpine.  Hill,  the  next  day, 
repeated  it  to  Bragg.  "  Lieutenant  Baylor  lies ;  there  is  not  a  Union 
infantry  soldier  south  of  us,"  said  the  Confederate  commander.Q  But  he 
changed  his  mind  the  next  morning,  and  said  that  the  Union  troops  were 
there,  when  at  that  moment  McCook  was  marching  as  hard  as  he  could 
to  join  Thomas.  It  is  plain  that  Bragg  did  not  comprehend  Rosecrans's 
movements. 

On  the  morning  of  the  13th  Thomas  was  in  McLemore's  Cove,  thir 
teen  miles  from  the  three  divisions  of  Crittenden.  On  the  12th,  in  the 
evening,  McCook  had  received  Rosecrans's  order  recalling  him  from  his 
perilous  position,  but  it  took  him  till  the  17th  to  reach  McLemore's  Cove. 
All  the  while  Bragg  was  concentrating  his  troops  to  move  north,  cross  the 
Chickamauga,  and  gain  the  Rossville  road. 

They  were  anxious  hours  to  Rosecrans,  but  a  timely  reinforcement  ar 
rived  at  Chattanooga  —  the  troops  of  General  Gordon  Granger,  which 
had  been  guarding  the  railroad  to  Nashville.  New  regiments  had  been 
sent  from  the  North  to  do  that  work,  relieving  Granger,  who  came  out 
from  Chattanooga  on  the  evening  of  the  13th,  and  encamped  at  Ross 
ville. 

On  the  same  evening  Hood's  Confederate  division  of  Longstreet's 
corps  arrived  from  Virginia,  followed  by  Gregg's  and  McNair's  brigades 
from  Atlanta,  and  which  were  united  to  Johnson's  brigade,  forming  a 
division ;  and  yet  with  these  fresh  troops,  with  the  several  corps  of  the 
Union  army  still  widely  separated,  Bragg  did  not  make  any  movement. 
What  he  was  waiting  for,  what  his  plans  were,  whether  he  had  any  definite 
plan,  does  not  appear  in  his  report.  Had  he  fallen  upon  Crittenden  as  he 
might  have  done  on  the  14th,  Rosecrans  would  have^been  in  danger  of 


FROM  MURFREESBORO  TO  CHICKAMAUGA.  399 

being  cut  np  in  detail.  Not  till  the  evening  of  the  17th  did  he  issue  or 
ders  for  the  flanking  movement  which  he  hoped  would  cut  off  Rosecrans 
from  Chattanooga  by  crossing  the  Chickamauga  below  Lee  &  Gordon's 
mill.  The  stream  at  that  season  of  the  year,  with  the  earth  dry  and 
parched,  could  be  forded  almost  anywhere. 

«  The  army  of  Bragg,  on  the  18th  of  September,  comprised,  as  nearly  as 
can  be  ascertained,  fifty-eight  thousand  infantry  and  artillery,  eight  thou 
sand  four  hundred  cavalry,  and  about  two  hundred  cannon — a  total  of 
nearly  sixty-seven  thousand  troops. 

The  Union  army  comprised  fifty -seven  thousand  infantry  and  artil 
lery,  seven  thousand  five  hundred  mounted  troops,  and  one  hundred 
and  seventy  pieces  of  artillery — in  all,  sixty -four  thousand  five  hundred 
men. 

On  the  morning  of  the  18th  the  Confederate  movement  began,  the 
brigades  marching  north  and  reaching  Chickamauga  Creek  to  find  Union 
cavalry,  supported  by  detachments  of  infantry,  ready  to  dispute  their 
crossing.  There  was  skirmishing  through  the  day,  but  the  battle  which 
Bragg  intended  should  begin  on  the  18th  was  contests  between  the  skir 
mishers  or  advanced  brigades,  and  the  sun  went  down  with  only  six  Con 
federate  brigades  across  the  Chickamauga.  Not  till  in  the  evening  when 
General  Steedman,  of  Granger's  corps,  and  Minty  and  Wilder  of  the  cav 
alry,  and  "Wood  at  Gordon's  mill,  informed  Rosecrans  of  the  appearance 
of  Confederate  troops  at  all  the  fords,  did  the  Union  commander  com 
prehend  just  what  Bragg  was  intending  to  do.  It  was  eleven  o'clock 
at  night  when  Thomas,  with  three  divisions,  began  his  march  northward 
from  Crawfish  Spring.  He  passed  in  rear  of  Crittenden  to  gain  the  roads 
leading  from  Rossville  southward  to  the  Chickamauga,  reaching  a  posi 
tion  in  the  morning  on  the  farm  of  Mr.  Kelley,  east  of  the  road  leading 
from  Rossville  to  Lee  &  Gordon's  mill.  Orders  were  sent  at  midnight 
to  McCook  to  hasten  northward,  but  the  trains  of  Thomas's  corps  blocked 
the  way.  The  road  cleared  at  last,  McCook  hastened  on,  closing  upon 
Crittenden.  So  on  the  morning  of  September  19th  McCook  was  on  the 
right,  Crittenden  in  the  centre,  Thomas  on  the  left,  forming  a  line  of  bat 
tle  upon  ground  which  Rosecrans  had  never  seen  till  that  morning,  of 
which  he  knew  nothing  except  that  he  could  see  there  were  farm  clear 
ings,  patches  of  woodland,  creeks  whose  beds  were  dry,  knolls  covered 
with  scrubby  oaks,  ravines  bordered  by  tangled  thickets,  with  a  few  main 
travelled  roads,  but  many  narrow  paths  leading  from  farm  to  farm.  Upon 
such  ground  he  must  accept  battle  from  a  foe  outnumbering  him  by  sev 
eral  thousand ;  troops  which  have  made  no  long  marches,  but  which  have 


400  MARCHING  TO   VICTORY. 

been  resting,  while  his  have  toiled  over  mountain  ranges,  and  have  been 
marching  for  life  to  gain  the  position  which  Thomas  has  at  last  secured. 

The  Union  trains  had  turned  north,  crossed  Missionary  Ridge,  and  were 
safe  in  Chattanooga  Valley. 


NOTES  TO  CHAPTER  XIX. 

(')  Southern  Bivouac  magazine,  quoted  in  National  Tribune. 

(2)  General  Rosecrans,  in  National  Tribune. 

(3)  Bragg's  Report. 

(4)  Idem. 

(5)  General  D.  H.  Hill,  Century  Magazine,  April,  1887,  p.  946. 


CH1CKAMAUGA.  4:01 


CHAPTER  XX. 

CHICKAMAUGA. 

rF1HERE  are  two  roads  leading  from  Chattanooga  Valley  across  Mission- 
•*•  ary  Ridge  towards  Chickamauga — the  Lafayette  road  through  Ross- 
ville  Gap,  and  the  Dry  Valley  road  through  McFarland's  Gap,  two  and 
one-half  miles  farther  south.  Several  roads  lead  eastward  from  the  La 
fayette  road  along  the  east  side  of  Missionary  Ridge  to  fords  and  bridges 
across  Chickamauga  Creek.  The  first  ford  north  of  Lee's  mill,  a  mile  dis 
tant,  is  Dalton's ;  Smith's  is  a  half  mile  farther ;  a  half  mile  beyond  that 
is  Alexander's  Bridge ;  a  little  farther  is  another  ford  ;  beyond  that  are 
Reed's  and  Dyer's  Bridges.  The  distance  in  a  straight  line  from-  the  mill 
to  Dyer's  Bridge  is  about  five  miles.  On  the  Dry  Valley  road,  about  a 
mile  and  a  half  from  the  mill,  is  the  house  of  Widow  Glen,  where  Rose- 
crans  established  his  headquarters. 

At  sunrise,  then,  on  the  morning  of  the  19th,  the  Union  infantry  ex 
tended  from  Crawfish  Spring  on  the  right  to  Kelley's  farm  on  the  left. 
The  cavalry  held  the  road  leading  from  Dyer's  Bridge  to  Rossville,(')  and 
had  been  doing  great  service  during  the  night.  At  every  bridge  and  ford 
across  the  Chickamauga  they  had  confronted  Bragg's  divisions,  holding 
them  in  check.  "  The  resistance,"  says  Bragg  in  his  report,  "  offered  by 
the  enemy's  cavalry,  and  the  difficulties  arising  from  the  bad  and  narrow 
country  roads,  caused  unexpected  delays." 

When  General  Walker's  division  of  Bragg's  army  reached  Alexander's 
Bridge,  they  found  Wilder's  mounted  infantry  on  the  opposite  bank  with 
light  artillery,  which  fired  so  effectively  that  Walker  could  not  cross,  and, 
under  cover  of  the  fire,  Wilder's  troops  rushed  down  to  the  bridge  and  set 
it  on  fire. 

From  daylight  till  nine  o'clock  Thomas's  wearied  men  had  a  chance 
to  rest,  but  at  that  hour  the  Confederates  began  to  advance. 

General  Bragg  had  five  corps — Longstreet's,  Walker's,  Buckner's,  Folk's, 
and  Hill's.  On  the  morning  of  the  19th  only  Hood's  division  of  Long- 
street's  corps  had  joined  the  army ;  but  at  two  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  a 
long  train  of  cars  arrived  bringing  the  brigades  of  McLaws's  division  and 
General  Longstreet.  The  newly  arrived  troops,  before  leaving  the  cars, 


*02  MARCHING  TO  VICTORY. 

could  hear  the  rolls  of  musketry  and  the  roar  of  the  artillery,  and  could 
see  the  battle-clouds  rising  over  the  forest  along  the  valley  of  the  Chicka- 
mauga. 

General  Polk  was  to  begin  the  attack  on  Thomas's  left.  Nearly  the 
whole  of  his  corps  was  across  the  creek.  The  Confederate  cavalry  was 
advancing  on  the  right,  with  Walker's  troops  following. 

General  Thomas  sent  Croxton's  brigade  of  Brannan's  division  against 
Forrest,  who  was  driven,  but  Ector's  brigade  was  sent  in  by  Walker, 
whereupon  Thomas  ordered  up  the  whole  of  Baird's  division,  driving  the 
Confederates. 

This  was  not  heavy  fighting,  but,  on  the  part  of  Bragg,  a  movement  to 
discover  what  there  was  between  his  right  wing  and  Rossville.  He  had 
hoped  to  find  only  a  small  force  blocking  the  road,  which  he  would  sweep 
away  as  if  it  were  but  a  cobweb.  If  he  had  been  three  hours  earlier  he 
would  have  had  little  opposition,  but  he  was  too  late.  He  set  himself 
for  serious  work  on  his  right.  He  must  obtain  possession  of  the  La 
fayette  road,  and  ordered  up  Cheatham's  division  to  aid  Walker's,  which 
advanced  on  Baird,  striking  his  left  flank,  and  threw  two  of  the  Union 
brigades  into  confusion  and  driving  them  towards  Kelley's  house,  and 
capturing  artillery. 

Thomas  calmly  beheld  the  discomfiture.  A  messenger  rode  with 
orders  to  Reynolds  and  Johnson,  who  were  south  of  Kelley's  house,  and 
where  Cheatham's  men,  in  their  exultation,  with  wild  yells  were  proclaim 
ing  their  success ;  but  they  soon  found  themselves  hurled  back  in  con 
fusion  and  forced  to  leave  behind  the  cannon  which  they  had  captured 
from  Baird.(2) 

Stewart's  division  of  Bragg's  army  hastened  to  take  part  in  the  melee 
—Clayton's,  Brown's,  and  Bates's  brigades ;  but  one  after  the  other  were 
repulsed  by  the  fire  of  Reynolds,  Palmer,  and  Johnson. 

In  a  few  minutes  four  hundred  of  Clayton's  men  fell ;  Brown  and 
Bates  advanced  close  upon  Thomas's  lines,  but  were  turned  back  with 
great  loss. 

The  battle  began  to  roll  up  the  creek.  Hood  and  Johnson  advanced 
against  Yan  Cleve  and  Davis,  and  Bragg  sent  in  part  of  Preston's  division 
against  Wood. 

From  two  till  four  the  contest  was  sharp.  Yan  Cleve  was  driven,  and 
Negley  was  brought  down  from  the  right  to  take  his  place. 

Hood,  Johnson,  and  Preston  were  driving  on  with  so  much  vigor  that 
Rosecrans's  line  was  pushed  back  nearly  to  Rosecrans's  headquarters, 
around  which  the  shells  were  constantly  exploding;  but  Sheridan  came 


CHICKAMAUGA.  405 

down  from  the  extreme  right  and  stopped  the  onward  movement  of  the 
Confederates. 

In  the  centre  Van  Cleve  had  been  driven,  and  Palmer's  left  flank  ex 
posed;  but  Hazen  moved  in  and  made  the  line  good  once  more.  He 
planted  twenty  cannon  on  a  knoll,  which  poured  a  destructive  fire  upon 
Cheatham,  who  was  moving  up  to  fall  upon  Reynolds. 

The  Union  troops  supposed  that  the  conflict  for  the  day  was  over, 
when  Cleburne  and  Preston  made  a  sudden  attack  upon  Johnson's  and 
Baird's  divisions,  but  were  repulsed,  and  night  closed  in,  both  armies  lying 
down  upon  the  field  to  renew  the  struggle  in  the  morning. 

Bragg  had  not  accomplished  what  he  had  set  out  to  do — to  crush  Rose- 
crans's  left  and  gain  the  Lafayette  road.  The  battle  began  on  Kelley's 
farm,  and  there  the  last  shots  were  fired  as  night  came  on,  with  the  rain 
falling  upon  the  wearied  armies.  The  contest  had  been  severe,  but  it  was 
only  the  prelude  to  one  of  the  great  battles  of  the  war. 

Through  the  night  Rosecrans  withdrew  McCook  to  the  foot-hills  in 
front  of  McFarland's  Gap,  and  made  his  line  of  battle  shorter  and  much 
stronger.  The  soldiers  of  Thomas's  corps  cut  down  trees,  and  with  fence- 
rails  constructed  a  line  of  breastworks. 

It  is  easy  to  see,  after  a  battle  has  been  fought,  what  might  have  been 
done,  but  a  commander  must  decide  upon  the  instant  what  to  do.  Gen 
eral  Rosecrans,  when  the  battle  closed  at  eight  o'clock  in  the  evening  of 
the  19th,  might  have  sent  his  trains  and  the  wounded  through  McFar 
land's  and  Rossville  gaps,  then  leaving  a  strong  skirmish  line  have  fallen 
back  to  Missionary  Ridge,  and  taken  a  position  which  would  have  enabled 
him  to  repel  an  assault  from  any  quarter.  Such  a  position  would  have 
given  his  artillery  great  advantage.  The  western  slope  of  Missionary 
Ridge  is  sharp,  the  eastern  not  so  abrupt.  The  movement  could  have 
been  made,  and  there  would  have  been  time  for  the  erection  of  breast 
works,  for  Bragg  would  have  been  compelled  to  make  new  dispositions  of 
his  troops  before  attacking.  He  chose  instead  to  meet  the  shock  on  the 
field  where  the  battle  had  begun. 

For  the  renewal  of  the  conflict  Bragg  divided  his  army  into  two  wings, 
the  right  under  Polk,  composed  of  Walker's,  Hill's,  Breckinridge's,  Cheat- 
ham's,  and  Cleburne's  troops.  The  left  wing  was  under  Longstreet — com 
posed  of  his  own,  Buckner's,  and  Hindman's  troops.  His  plan  was  to  have 
Polk  turn  Thomas's  left  flank,  and  when  Breckinridge  gained  possession 
of  the  road  leading  to  Rossville,  Longstreet  was  to  fall  upon  McCook 
and  Crittenden ;  Polk  was  to  attack  at  daylight.  As  the  morning  dawned 
Bragg  and  his  staff-officers  were  in  their  saddles,  expecting  every  moment 


406  MARCHING  TO  VICTORY. 

to  hear  the  rattle  of  musketry  from  Folk's  troops ;  but  no  sound  broke  the 
stillness  of  the  morning  save  the  rumbling  of  army-wagons  and  the  num. 
that  rose  from  the  bivouac  of  the  two  armies.  A  half  hour  passed  ;  Bragg 
was  impatient ;  an  hour  went  by  and  still  no  sound. 

"  Hide  to  General  Polk,"  he  said  to  Major  Lee,  "  and  ascertain  the  rea 
son  of  his  delay,  and  urge  him  to  attack  at  once."  It  took  Major  Lee  half 
an  hour  to  find  Lieutenant-general  Polk,  who  was  eating  his  breakfast, 
and  reading  a  newspaper.  He  and  his  staff-officers  were  in  full  uniform. 
The  officer  delivered  his  message.  Polite  and  courtly  the  reply  :  "  Please 
inform  the  general  commanding  that  I  have  already  ordered  General  Hill 
into  action ;  that  I  am  waiting  for  him  to  begin ;  and  do  please  say  to 
General  Bragg  that  my  heart  is  overflowing  with  anxiety  for  the  attack — 
with  anxiety,  sir."  Major  Lee  returned  and  reported.(3) 

The  historian  who  has  written  an  account  of  the  war  from  the  Con 
federate  side  has  not  recorded  the  exact  words  spoken  by  General  Bragg, 
but  says  that  he  was  very  angry,  and  used  many  very  bitter  expressions, 
some  of  which  were  not  in  accordance  with  the  commandments  of  the 
Bible. 

It  was  eight  o'clock  when  General  Bragg  came  to  General  Hill,  whose 
troops  were  getting  their  rations  for  the  day.  "  Why  did  not  you  begin 
the  attack  at  daylight  ?"  he  asked,  very  much  out  of  temper.  "  This  is  the 
first  that  I  have  heard  of  any  such  order,"(4)  Hill  replied.  "I  found  Polk 
reading  a  newspaper  down  by  Alexanders  Bridge,  two  miles  from  the  line 
of  battle,  when  he  ought  to  have  been  fighting,"  said  Bragg.  Possibly  he 
did  not  know  that  through  negligence  on  the  part  of  some  one  his  orders 
had  not  been  delivered.  He  was  not  liked  by  his  troops,  neither  by  his 
officers.  No  one  cheered  when  he  passed  by. 

Are  events  happenings  only  ?  or  is  there  a  hand  divine  and  unseen  con 
trolling  human  affairs  ?  How  happened  it  that  the  easy-going  Polk  was 
placed  in  command  of  the  Confederate  right  wing,  where  the  utmost  ener 
gy  was  needed  to  carry  out  the  plan  ?  and  why  was  the  resolute,  energetic 
Longstreet,  the  hammerer,  placed  in  command  of  the  left  ?  It  was  Bragg's 
mistake,  and  an  exhibition  of  his  want  of  judgment.  The  right  of  his  flank 
was  the  place  where  he  wanted  the  thunder-bolts  hurled  upon  Rosecrans. 
How  happened  it  that  Rosecrans,  not  knowing  just  what  his  opponent 
was  intending  to  do,  but  only  forecasting  his  probable  movement,  should 
select  Thomas  to  hold  the  left  of  his  line — the  commander  who,  before 
sundown,  was  to  acquire  renown  and  a  name  which  is  to  go  down  the 
ages — the  "  Rock  of  Chickamauga  ?"  Whether  it  was  a  happening,  or  the 
evolution  of  law,  or  the  ordering  of  a  divine  Providence,  the  assignment 


CHICKAMAUGA.  407 

of  Thomas  to  hold  the  left  of  the  Union  army  had  much  to  do  with  the 
final  issue  of  the  conflict,  as  we  shall  see. 

It  was  between  seven  and  eight  o'clock  when  the  Confederate  skir 
mishers  in  front  of  Thomas's  left  began  to  advance.  After  a  little  firing 
Breckinridge's  and  Cleburne's  divisions  assailed  Baird's  and  Beatty's  bri 
gades  with  such  force  that  they  were  driven,  and  the  Confederates  were  in 
possession  of  the  road  to  Rossville,  but  only  for  a  few  moments,  for  Thomas 
ordered  up  two  brigades  —  one  of  Brannan's  and  one  of  Wood's  —  and 
Breckinridge's  troops  were  driven  in  confusion. 

While  thus  trying  to  gain  the  rear  of  Thomas,  Bragg  hurled  Stewart, 
Johnson,  and  Walker  upon  Palmer's  and  Eeynolds's  Union  divisions  in 
the  centre.  "  The  first  attempt,"  says  Thomas,  "  was  continued  at  least 
two  hours,  making  assault  after  assault  with  fresh  troops,  which  were  met 
by  my  troops  with  a  most  determined  coolness  and  deliberation.  Having 
exhausted  his  utmost  energies  to  dislodge  us,  he  apparently  fell  back 
entirely  from  our  front,  and  we  were  not  disturbed  again  till  towards 
night." 

The  Confederate  troops  were  in  a  semicircle  around  Thomas,  Breckin- 
ridge  and  Cleburne  on  the  right,  facing  nearly  south,  Walker  south-west, 
and  Cheatham  nearly  west ;  but  not  an  inch  could  they  move  his  lines. 
The  stubbornness  of  Thomas's  men  was  upsetting  all  of  Bragg's  calcula 
tions.  Polk  was  to  have  been  the  moving  column  and  Longstreet  the 
pivot ;  in  other  words,  the  Confederate  lines  were  to  swing  like  a  door, 
Longstreet  being  the  hinge.  The  door  would  not  swing  because  Thomas 
could  not  be  driven.  Nothing  had  been  accomplished,  and  the  Confed 
erate  divisions  were  being  cut  to  pieces.  The  Confederate  general,  D.  H. 
Hill,  says:  "While  Breckinridge  was  thus  alarming  Thomas  for  his  left, 
Cleburne  was  having  a  bloody  fight  with  the  forces  behind  the  breast 
works,  L.  E.  Polk's  brigade  was  driven  back,  and  Wood's  Confederate  bri 
gade,  on  the  left,  had  almost  reached  Poe's  house  on  the  Chattanooga  road, 
when  he  was  subjected  to  a  heavy  enfilading  fire,  and  driven  back  with 
great  loss." 

General  Thomas,  seeing  what  Bragg  was  attempting  to  do,  called  upon 
Rosecrans  for  reinforcements,  who  withdrew  Lytle's  and  Walworth's  bri 
gades  from  McCook  over  on  the  extreme  right,  and  sent  them  on  the  run 
to  assist  the  left.  This  weakened  the  line  in  front  of  Longstreet,  who 
up  to  that  moment  had  not  made  any  determined  effort. 

Bragg,  seeing  that  he  could  not  push  Thomas  from  his  position,  de 
cided  to  assault  all  along  the  line.  This  the  order :  "  Let  every  officer 
advance  his  command  at  once."(5)  Longstreet,  beginning  on  his  right, 


408  MARCHING   TO    VICTORY. 

had  Stewart,  B.  R.  Johnson,  Hood,  Kershaw,  and  Preston.  Stewart  was 
the  first  to  become  engaged,  but  was  repulsed  with  great  loss.  General 
Thomas  sent  an  aide  to  Rosecrans,  to  tell  him  of  the  great  pressure  upon 
him,  and  asking  for  support.  The  officer,  as  he  rode  towards  Rosecrans's 
headquarters,  saw  what  he  thought  was  a  gap  between  Wood's  and  Reyn- 
olds's  divisions.  He  did  not  see  that  Brannan  had  formed  his  brigades  in 
the  rear  in  echelon — that  is,  one  brigade  behind  and  partly  overlapping 
the  one  in  front.  They  were  really  in  line  and  just  where  they  ought  to  be, 
and  the  aide  had  arrived  at  a  wrong  conclusion.  He  informed  Rosecrans 
that  there  was  an  open  space  between  Reynolds's  and  Wood's  divisions. 
What  little  things  are  the  turning-points  of  great  events! 

We  come  to  the  decisive  moment  of  the  battle  of  Chickamauga.  Gen 
eral  Rosecrans,  acting  on  the  information,  directed  one  of  his  staff-officers 
to  write  this  despatch  to  General  Wood  :  "  The  general  commanding 
directs  that  you  close  up  on  Reynolds  as  far  as  possible,  and  support  him." 
General  McCook  was  with  Wood,  and  they  discussed  the  meaning  of  the 
order.  Brannan  was  between  Wood  and  Reynolds,  but  a  little  back  from 
the  main  line.  How  could  Wood  close  up  on  Reynolds  when  Brannan 
was  between  ?  How  could  he  support  Reynolds  ?  To  support  him  he 
must  be  behind  him.  Only  by  marching  in  rear  of  Brannan  could  he  be 
in  position  to  support  Reynolds.  To  make  such  a  movement  would  leave 
a  wide  opening  between  Brannan  and  Davis,  the  next  division  in  line 
towards  the  left.  But  there  was  the  order,  and  Wood  gave  what  he 
thought  was  the  correct  interpretation.  It  was  blind  and  contradictory, 
because  Rosecrans  had  not  been  rightly  informed  of  the  position  of  the 
divisions.  Wood's  men  filed  out  in  rear  of  Brannan,  moved  upon  the 
double-quick  to  the  left  in  rear  of  Reynolds,  leaving  a  wide  gap  in  the 
line  at  the  most  critical  moment  of  the  battle — just  when  Longstreet  was 
ordering  forward  his  divisions.  In  front  of  the  open  space  was  Hood's 
division,  which  came  so  near  to  gaining  Little  Round  Top  at  Gettysburg. 
Hood  beheld  the  withdrawal  of  Wood  with  glee.  Now  was  his  time. 
Up  through  the  forest  swept  the  troops  who  had  fought  on  the  Penin 
sula,  at  Manassas,  which  hurled  Sedg wick's  brigade  back  from  the  Dunker 
church  at  Antietam — veterans  who  were  led  by  a  brave  commander,  and 
who  went  with  a  rush  towards  the  door  which  had  so  unexpectedly  been 
opened  for  them.  If  there  had  been  a  consultation  and  agreement  be 
tween  the  Confederate  and  Union  commanders,  the  withdrawal  of  Wood 
could  not  have  been  more  opportune  for  Bragg.  There  were  only  two 
divisions  of  Union  troops  to  the  right  of  the  gap — Davis's  and  Sheridan's ; 
all  the  others  had  been  sent  to  reinforce  Thomas.  Longstreet  outnum- 


CHICKAMAUGA.  409 

bered  them  two  to  one.  Hood  assailed  Brannan  on  his  right,  and  Davis 
on  his  left.  It  was  not  merely  the  entering  of  a  wedge :  it  was  more  like 
the  pouring  of  a  flood  through  a  break  in  the  levees  of  the  Mississippi. 
There  was  nothing  in  front  of  Hood  to  oppose  his  onward  rush ;  and  not 
only  his,  but  the  whole  of  Longstreet's  troops  —  Stewart's,  Kershaw's, 
Johnson's,  Hind  man's,  and  Preston's — cutting  off  the  five  Union  brigades 
of  McCook  from  the  rest  of  the  army,  which  compelled  that  commander 
to  retreat  to  save  his  troops  from  being  captured. 

And  now  came  the  effort  to  fill  the  crevasse  so  suddenly  and  unex 
pectedly  made.  Walworth's  and  Lytle's  brigades  of  Sheridan's  divis 
ion,  which  had  been  sent  to  Thomas,  went  upon  the  run  back  from  the 
right.  As  they  came  through  the  woods,  the  soldiers  beheld  the  wag 
ons,  artillery,  and  infantry  retreating  in  confusion,  followed  by  the  exult 
ant  Confederates ;  but  resolutely  they  wheeled  into  line.  "  If  we  are  to 
die,  we  will  die  here,"  were  the  words  of  Lytle.  A  bullet  struck  him, 
but  he  still  sat  in  his  saddle.  "  Charge  !"  he  shouted,  and  his  men  rushed 
on ;  but  though  bravely  done,  they  were  so  few  that  it  was  as  a  hand 
ful  of  straw  thrown  against  a  swirling  flood.  There  was  terrific  fight 
ing.  Lytle's  men  had  a  deep  and  tender  love  for  him.  At  Murfrees- 
boro  they  presented  him  with  a  Maltese  cross  studded  with  diamonds  and 
emeralds.  They  would  die  for  him  if  need  be.  Three  more  bullets 
struck  him.  His  officers  saw  him  reeling,  and  caught  him  in  their  arms. 
Two  who  were  laying  him  down  were  killed,  and  one  wounded,  but  they 
placed  him  beneath  a  tree.  He  handed  them  his  sword  ;  he  would  not 
have  it  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy.  Years  before,  he  wrote  of 
death,  as  in  prophecy  of  his  own  end  : 

"On  some  lone  spot,  where,  far  from  home  and  friends, 

The  way-worn  pilgrim  on  the  turf  reclining, 
This  life  and  much  of  grief  together  ends." 

A  great  heart  had  ceased  to  beat.  The  Confederates  came  upon  his 
lifeless  body,  and  beheld  him  lying  there  in  the  beauty  and  glory  of  a  vig 
orous  manhood,  with  a  smile  upon  his  face.  He  had  given  his  life  to  his 
country.  He  was  one  of  Nature's  poets,  and  has  left  behind  him  one 
poem,  which  will  ever  charm  by  its  beauty  and  pathos — "  The  Death  of 
Rome's  great  Triumvir,  Mark  Antony  :" 

"I  am  dying,  Egypt,  dying; 

Ebbs  the  crimson  life-tide  fast, 
And  the  dark  Plutonian  shadows 
Gather  on  the  evening  blast. 


ilO  MARCHING   TO   VICTORY. 

"Let  thine  arms,  O  Queen,  enfold  me; 

Hush  thy  sobs  and  bend  thine  ear; 
Listen  to  the  great  heart  secrets 
Thou,  and  thou  alone,  must  hear. 

"Though  my  scarred  and  veteran  legions 

Bear  their  eagles  high  no  more, 
And  my  wrecked  and  scattered  galleys 
Strew  dark  Actium's  fatal  shore — 

"Though  no  glittering  guards  surround  me, 

Brought  to  do  thy  master's  will, 
I  must  perish  like  a  Roman — 
Die  the  great  Triumvir  still:" 

Nobler  the  ending  of  his  life  on  the  field  of  Chickamauga  than  that 
of  the  Triumvir  of  the  Seven-hilled  City — that,  the  snuffing  out  of  ambi 
tion  and  intrigue ;  this,  death  that  his  country  might  be  united  evermore. 

Very  pathetic  this  story  told  by  a  Union  officer,  who  on  Saturday 
night  saw  a  soldier  sitting  on  a  log,  with  tears  rolling  down  his  cheeks. 

"What  is  the  matter?"  he  asked. 

The  soldier  held  up  a  photograph.  "  That  is  my  wife  and  my  chil 
dren,"  he  said. 

"  Yes,  and  I  too  have  a  wife  and  the  same  number  of  children." 

"  But,  general,  you  are  an  officer,  getting  heavy  pay ;  you  could  resign 
if  you  wished  to ;  or  if  you  were  to  be  killed,  there  would  be  something 
left  for  them.  I  am  a  soldier ;  I  cannot  resign.  If  I  am  killed,  who  will 
look  after  Maggie  and  the  children  ?" 

"  Cheer  up.  comrade.  I  am  not  going  to  resign.  I  shall  stay  with  you 
and  the  rest.  We'll  fight  it  out  to  the  end,  and  go  home  together.  Cheer 
up ;  we  shall  both  see  our  loved  ones  again."(6) 

Twenty-four  hours  had  passed.  The  officer  and  the  soldier  had  been 
in  the  thick  of  the  fight.  The  officer  was  falling  back  before  the  advan 
cing  Confederates  when  he  came  upon  a  prostrate  form,  and  looked  down 
into  a  face  from  which  life  had  passed  away — upon  the  form  of  a  man 
whose  heart  had  ceased  its  beating — the  heart  which  had  yearned  to  be 
hold  once  more  the  dear  ones  far  away.  The  fateful  bullet  had  pierced 
not  only  the  heart  of  the  soldier  but  the  photograph,  which,  morning,  noon, 
and  night,  by  the  bivouac  fire,  upon  the  weary  march,  and  in  the  tempest 
of  battle,  had  been  his  solace.  He  too  had  given  his  life  for  his  country. 

General  Longstreet  had  formed  his  troops  in  columns  of  brigades,  just 
as  Napoleon  arranged  his  at  the  battle  of  Marengo  when  he  broke  the 
line  of  the  Austrian  army.  With  Rosecrans's  line  weakened  by  the  with- 


-I 

o     >• 


CHICKAMAUGA.  413 

drawal  from  McCook  and  Crittenden  of  so  many  brigades  to  support 
Thomas,  with  Wood's  division  taken  from  the  line  by  the  great  mistake, 
Lorigstreet  found  it  an  easy  matter  to  sweep  all  before  him.  At  the 
moment  of  his  advance  Wood  was  moving  north-east,  and  his  rear  bri 
gade  was  thrown  into  confusion.  Negley's  division  was  struck  so  sud 
denly  that  all  semblance  of  order  was  lost.  Not  only  the  troops,  but 
Rosecrans,  together  with  Crittenden  and  McCook,  with  their  staffs,  were 
forced  to  flee  before  the  onset  of  the  Confederates.  It  was  so  unex 
pected  and  unaccountable — like  the  rush  of  a  whirlwind — that  the  artil 
lery  had  no  time  to  limber  up  their  pieces  before  their  horses  were  going 
down  in  heaps,  and  the  Confederates  leaping  upon  the  cannon  with  shouts 
and  yells. 

It  was  a  disaster  so  appalling  that  men  who  at  other  times  were  cool 
and  brave  lost  their  heads.Q  General  Negley,  who  had  shown  his  bravery 
at  Stone  River,  unfortunately  ordered  several  batteries  and  regiments  to 
the  rear.  Some  officers  who  retained  their  self-possession  refused  to  go, 
and  tried  to  gather  up  their  scattered  commands,  but  several  thousand 
troops  straggled  towards  Rossville:  Not  so  Bran  nan  and  Wood,  who, 
though  struck  by  the  Confederates,  brought  their  brigades  into  line.  A 
moment  before,  they  were  marching  towards  the  east,  but  now  they  faced 
west — Wood,  Reynolds,  and  Brannan  together  poured  their  volleys  into 
the  Confederate  ranks,  which,  instead  of  pressing  on  after  the  retreating 
fugitives  in  the  direction  of  Rossville,  were  obliged  to  wheel  towards  the 
east  to  meet  their  fire.  The  brigades  of  McCook,  cut  off  from  the  rest  of 
the  army,  were  retreating  towards  McFarland's  Gap. 

While  Longstreet  was  thus  driving  on  his  troops,  Walker's  and  John 
son's  Confederate  divisions  were  attacking  Palmer,  but  were  repulsed  with 
great  loss.  The  new  line  formed  by  Wood  and  Brannan  compelled  Long- 
street  to  come  to  a  halt,  and  reform  his  troops  for  an  assault  upon  them. 
The  brigades  of  Bushrod  Johnson  and  Patton  Anderson  advanced,  but 
were  cut  to  pieces.  Longstreet  followed  up  the  attack  with  the  divisions 
of  Hindman  and  Kershaw,  and  ai  the  moment  when  these  troops  were 
gaining  a  position  by  which  they  almost  had  Brannan  and  Wood  at  their 
mercy, 'let  us  go  back  to  Rossville,  six  miles,  and  from  two  o'clock  in  the 
afternoon  to  eleven  in  the  forenoon. 

General  Gordon  Granger  commanded  the  reserve  corps  of  Rose- 
crans's  army,  and  had  been  ordered  to  hold  Rossville.  His  headquarters 
were  by  the  road-side  on  the  summit  of  Missionary  Ridge,  a  short  dis 
tance  from  the  old  house  in  which  the  Indian  chief  John  Ross  once  lived. 
General  Granger,  when  the  haze  lifted  at  ten  o'clock  and  the  sun  burned 


MARCHING  TO   VICTORY. 


away  the  fog,  could  see  dust-clouds  rising  along  the  valley,  marking  the 
advance  of  the  Confederates  under  Breckinridge  and  Hill  to  attack  Thom 
as's  left.  "  They  are  concentrating  over  there,  and  there  is  where  we  ought 
to  be,"  he  said  to  one  of  his  officers.  The  roar  of  battle  came  up  from  the 
valley,  and  the  white  clouds  sailed  away  over  the  fields  and  forest.  He 
walked  to  and  fro,  nervously  pulling  his  beard.  "  Why  does  Rosecrans 


MAJOR-GENERAL   GEORGE   H.   THOMAS. 


keep  us  here  ?  There  is  nothing  in  front  of  us  now.  There  is  the  battle." 
He  pointed  to  the  rising  and  increasing  cloud.  With  Colonel  Fullerton 
he  climbed  to  the  top  of  a  hay-rick.  The  whole  valley  lay  before  them. 
The  uproar  was  increasing.  It  was  hard  for  Granger  to  see  the  signs  of 
the  conflict,  to  hear  the  thunder  of  the  cannon,  the  rolls  of  musketry,  and 
not  be  in  the  melee.  He  thrust  his  field-glass  into  its  case. 


CH1CKAMAUGA.  415 

"  I  am  going  over  to  Thomas,  orders  or  no  orders,"  he  said.(8) 

"And  if  you  go,  it  may  bring  disaster  to  the  army,  and  you  to  a  court- 
martial,"  said  Colonel  Fullerton. 

"  There  is  nothing  in  front  of  us  but  rag,  tag,  and  bobtail  cavalry.  Don't 
you  see  that  Bragg  is  piling  up  his  whole  army  on  Thomas  ?  I  am  going 
to  his  assistance." 

He  jumped  from  the  hay-rick.  He  had  three  brigades — Dan  McCook's, 
Steedrnan's,  and  Whitaker's.  Leaving  the  first  to  hold  the  position  where 
they  were,  he  moved  with  the  others  towards  the  battle. 

While  Granger  was  thus  marching  without  orders,  let  us  enter  the 
Confederate  lines  and  survey  the  state  of  affairs  on  that  side.  It  was  after 
noon  ;  Longstreet  was  taking  a  lunch  of  baked  sweet-potatoes.  He  was 
well  satisfied  with  what  his  troops  had  accomplished,  but  he  wanted  to  do 
more.  They  had  captured  twenty-seven  pieces  of  artillery  and  a  large 
number  of  prisoners,  swept  over  Rosecrans's  headquarters,  sent  his  right 
wing  flying  along  the  road  towards  McFarland's  Gap ;  but  that  body  of 
Union  troops — Reynolds's,  Brannan's,  and  Wood's — which  were  blocking 
his  way  on  the  hill  by  Mr.  Snodgrass's  house,  must  be  swept  aside,  and  to  do 
it  he  must  have  reinforcements.  He  called  upon  Bragg  for  more  troops. (9) 

"  General  Bragg  wishes  to  see  you,"  said  a  messenger,  and  Longstreet 
rode  to  the  headquarters  of  the  commander-in-chief. 

"  I  cannot  give  you  any  more  troops,"  said  Bragg,  "  for  there  is  no 
fight  in  the  troops  of  Folk's  wing.  No  troops  except  your  own  have  any 
fight  in  them." 

General  Longstreet  says,  "  It  is  my  opinion  that  Bragg  thought  at  3  P.M. 
that  the  battle  was  lost,  though  he  did  not  say  so  positively." 

What  a  scene  it  was  at  that  moment !  On  the  Confederate  side,  Bragg 
thought  he  had  been  defeated  ;  Folk's  corps  was  dispirited ;  Longstreet's 
divisions  had  swept  all  before  them,  but  were  resolutely  confronted  and 
brought  to  a  stand-still. 

On  the  Union  side  the  woods,  fields,  roads,  and  pastures  were  filled  with 
the  soldiers  which  had  been  routed  by  Longstreet's  assault ;  not  only  the 
troops,  but  the  commander-in-chief,  together  with  McCook  and  Crittenden 
— artillery,  ammunition,  and  baggage  trains — all  were  hastening  towards 
McFarland's  Gap  and  Eossville.  Officers  who  had  not  lost  their  self-pos 
session  were  trying  to  rally  panic-stricken  soldiers,  who  only  laughed  in 
their  faces.  Authority  was  gone,  discipline  lost. 

We  are  not  to  think  that  all  the  troops  on  the  right  had  been  demor 
alized.  On  the  contrary,  Sheridan  and  Davis  were  on  the  Dry  Valley 
road,  their  regiments  in  line.  Negley  had  turned  about,  so  that  there  were 


4:16  MARCHING  TO  VICTORY. 

ten  thousand  men  on  that  road  who  could  have  been  counted  upon  for 
effective  work. 

General  Rosecrans  and  his  chief  of  staff.  General  Garfield,  together 
with  McCook  and  Crittenden,  were  on  the  Lafayette  road,  riding  towards 
Rossville.  Rosecrans,  who  had  never  before  travelled  the  road,  saw  that 
it  was  a  strong  position.  He  determined  to  place  Thomas  in  command, 
and  have  him  withdraw  to  that  point,  while  he  himself  would  go  to 
Chattanooga  to  make  preparations  for  the  final  withdrawal  to  that  place. 
It  is  plain  that  if  Bragg,  according  to  Longstreet,  thought  the  battle 
lost,  so  did  Rosecrans.  He  did  not  comprehend  that  at  that  moment 
he  might  turn  defeat  into  victory ;  that  instead  of  issuing  an  order  for 
Thomas  to  withdraw  to  Missionary  Ridge,  and  himself  riding  in  haste  to 
Chattanooga,  the  time  had  come  for  him  to  hurl  Sheridan,  Davis,  and 
Negley  upon  Longstreet.  The  pluck  which  he  had  manifested  at  Stone 
River  seemed  to  be  wanting  at  the  moment.  Had  those  ten  thousand 
men  in  the  Dry  Valley  road  resolutely  confronted  Longstreet  when  that 
officer  was  calling  for  help,  and  when  Bragg  thought  the  battle  lost,  there 
can  be  little  doubt  of  the  result — that  Longstreet  taken  in  flank  would 
have  been  driven  over  upon  Polk,  whose  troops  had  become  dispirited 
by  their  inability  to  make  any  impression  on  Thomas.  Instead  of  seiz 
ing  the  opportune  moment  of  striking  a  last  blow,  Rosecrans  rode  to 
Chattanooga. 

We  have  seen  General  Granger  jumping  down  from  the  hay-rick  and 
marching  with  Steedman's  and  Whitaker's  brigades  towards  the  pillar  of 
cloud  rising  from  the  semicircle  of  fire  where  Thomas  and  his  men  were 
standing.  It  was  a  hearty  shake  of  the  hand  given  by  Thomas  to  Gran 
ger  when  he  rode  up,  coming  without  orders  to  his  assistance.  At  that 
moment  Longstreet  was  getting  ready  to  renew  the  assault  upon  Wood  and 
Brannan.  Thomas  pointed  to  the  Confederates. 

"  Those  men  must  be  driven  back,"  he  said  ;  "  can  you  do  it  ?"(10) 

"  Yes ;  my  men  are  fresh,  and  they  are  just  the  fellows  for  that  work. 
They  are  raw  troops,  and  they  don't  know  any  better  than  to  charge  up 
there." 

Granger  gave  Steedman  the  command  of  the  two  brigades.  In  two 
lines,  with  a  cheer,  they  went  upon  the  run  through  an  old  field,  through 
weeds  waist-high,  across  a  narrow  valley,  and  up  the  opposite  ridge.  The 
Confederate  cannon  opened  upon  them,  and  then  the  musketry.  They 
dropped  upon  the  ground,  and  the  volleys  went  over  them.  With  breath 
revived,  they  sprang  to  their  feet.  Louder  than  the  din  of  battle  came 
the  command  from  Steedman,  "  Forward!"  With  a  flag  in  his  hand,  he 


CHICKAMAUGA.  417 

led  them  on.  Right  into  the  faces  of  the  Confederates  they  poured  their 
volleys,  so  deadly  that  the  ranks  of  the  men  in  gray  wavered,  broke,  and 
disappeared  down  the  slope  and  over  another  knoll.  It  was  the  work 
of  but  a  few  minutes,  but  during  the  time  a  fragment  of  a  shell  had  car 
ried  away  Granger's  hat ;  Steedman  had  been  wounded ;  Whitaker,  com 
manding  Mitchell's  brigade,  had  also  been  wounded,%and  four  staff-officers 
killed  or  wounded,  and  fearful  havoc  had  been  made  in  the  lines,  but  it 
was  a  blow  so  powerful  that  it  disarranged  all  of  Longstreet's  plans.  A 
moment  before,  he  had  completed  his  arrangements  for  driving  Wood  and 
Brannan  from  their  positions,  but  now  his  own  troops  were  falling  back. 
He  reformed  them,  and  once  more  they  advanced  only  to  be  repulsed  by 
this  new  fresh  force  that  had  risen,  as  it  were,  from  the  ground  in  front 
of  him. 

A  Confederate  general  says :  "  Hindman  and  Johnson  organized  a  col 
umn  of  attack  upon  the  front  and  rear  of  the  stronghold  of  Thomas.  It 
consisted  of  the  brigades  of  Deas,  Manigault,  Gregg,  Anderson,  and  Mc- 
Nair.  Three  of  the  brigades  had  each  five  hundred  men,  and  the  other 
two  were  not  so  strong."(n) 

Another  Confederate  gives  an  account  of  the  assault :  "  In  a  few  min 
utes  a  terrific  contest  ensued,  which  continued  at  close  quarters.  .  .  .  Our 
troops  attacked  again  and  again  with  a  courage  worthy  of  their  past 
achievements.  The  enemy  fought  with  determined  obstinacy,  and  repeat 
edly  repulsed  us,  but  only  to  be  again  assailed.  As  showing  the  fierce 
ness  of  the  fight,  I  mention  that  on  our  extreme  left  the  bayonet  was  used, 
and  men  also  killed  and  wounded  with  clubbed  muskets.  A  little  after 
four  the  enemy  was  reinforced,  and  advanced  with  loud  shouts,  but  was 
repulsed  by  Anderson  and  Kersha\v."(ia) 

It  was  half -past  three  when  General  Garfield,  sent  by  Rosecrans, 
reached  Thomas  with  the  order  placing  him  in  command  of  the  army,  and 
naming  Rossville  as  the  point  where  the  troops  could  be  rallied. 

"  It  would  be  the  ruin  of  the  army  to  attempt  to  withdraw  it  now ;  we 
must  hold  this  position  till  night,"  was  the  reply.  Fifteen  minutes  later  a 
courier  was  riding  towards  Chattanooga,  with  this  despatch  from  Garfield : 

"  Thomas  has  Brannan's,  Reynolds's,  Wood's,  Palmer's,  and  Johnson's 
divisions  here,  still  intact  after  terrible  fighting.  Granger  is  here,  closed 
up  with  Thomas,  and  both  are  fighting  terribly  on  the  right.  Sheridan  is 
in,  with  the  bulk  of  his  division  in  ragged  shape,  though  plucky  for  fight. 
General  Thomas  holds  his  old  ground  of  the  morning.  .  .  .  The  hardest  fight 
ing  of  the  day  is  now  going  on.  I  hope  General  Thomas  will  be  able  to 
hold  on  here  till  night,  and  will  not  have  to  fall  back  farther  than  Ross- 
27 


418  MARCHING  TO  VICTORY. 

ville,  perhaps  not  any.  All  fighting  men  should  be  stopped  there.  I  think 
we  may  retrieve  the  disaster  of  the  morning. 

"  I  never  saw  better  fighting  than  our  men  are  now  doing.  The  rebel 
ammunition  must  be  nearly  exhausted,  ours  fast  .failing.  If  we  can  hold 
out  an  hour  more  it  will  be  all  right.  Granger  thinks  we  can  defeat  them 
badly  to-morrow,  if  our  forces  all  come  in.  I  think  that  you  had  better 
come  to  Rossville  to-night  and  bring  ammunition. "(13) 

Not  till  Garfield  arrived  did  Thomas  know  what  had  happened  on  the 
right ;  that  Rosecrans  had  gone  to  Chattanooga.  Undisturbed  by  the 
intelligence,  and  being  now  commander  on  the  field,  he  quickly  decided 
what  to  do  :  to  stay  where  he  was — to  fight  on  till  night,  and  then  under 
cover  of  darkness  retire  to  Rossville.  The  uproar  was  then  beginning  to 
die  away.  Hazen's  and  Grose's  brigades  of  Palmer's  division  wrere,  with 
Steedman,  Brannan,  Wood,  and  the  troops  which  Sheridan  had  brought, 
repulsing  every  assault  of  Longstreet. 

The  sun  went  down  behind  Missionary  Ridge,  throwing  the  shadows  of 
the  long,  level  outline  of  its  summit  over  the  valley.  "With  its  departing 
rays  the  cannons'  brazen  lips  were  cooling,  the  rolls  of  musketry  becoming 
less  frequent,  though  the  cheers  of  the  Confederates  were  ringing  upon  the 
evening  air  over  the  achievements  of  the  day.  As  the  darkness  deepened, 
Thomas  ordered  his  divisions  one  by  one  to  retire,  but  to  come  into  posi 
tion  at  Rossville,  along  the  eastern  slope  of  Missionary  Ridge ;  and  there 
at  midnight  the  stout-hearted  commander,  who  had  stood  immovable  amid 
the  storm,  who  had  saved  the  army  and  rendered  immortal  service  to  his 
country,  laid  himself  down  calmly  to  sleep.  So  at  midnight  the  army  was 
upon  the  spot  which,  if  it  had  been  selected  the  night  before,  would  in  all 
probability  have  resulted  in  victory. 

It  was  four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  when  Rosecrans  reached  Chatta 
nooga.  He  had  been  in  the  saddle  from  five  in  the  morning.  Not  a 
mouthful  of  food  had  passed  his  lips.  For  two  weeks  his  active  brain 
had  been  under  the  utmost  tension.  He  had  seen  his  right  wing  crushed 
under  the  impetuous  advance  of  Longstreet.  He  was  thinking  how  to  se 
cure  the  bridges  across  the  Tennessee,  and  of  rallying  his  scattered  divis 
ions  behind  breastworks  around  Chattanooga.  The  battle  was  lost.  All 
the  consequences  of  defeat  rolled  in  upon  him  as  he  rode  along  the  dusty 
road,  reaching  the  town  at  last  so  exhausted  that  he  could  not  dismount 
without  assistance.  He  sent  a  despatch  to  Washington  that  his  right  wing 
had  been  crushed.  President  Lincoln  read  it  with  a  heavy  heart.  Thou 
sands  of  lives  sacrificed ;  the  army  in  retreat,  when  victory  was  confidently 
expected ! 


CHICKAMAUGA.  419 

An  officer  dashed  into  Chattanooga  as  the  sun  was  disappearing,  with 
the  message  from  Garfield.  Rosecrans  read  it,  swung  his  hat,  and  shouted, 
"  Thank  God  !  The  day  is  ours  yet !  Go  to  your  commands,  gentlemen." 

General  Wagner,  who  with  a  brigade  of  cavalry  had  been  holding 
Chattanooga,  moved  out  towards  Rossville,  stopping  all  stragglers ;  but 
the  passes  across  Missionary  Ridge  south  of  Rossville  were  open  to  Bragg, 
and  Thomas  advised  the  withdrawal  of  the  army  to  the  town.  The  Con 
federates  were  in  possession  of  the  field  where  the  battle  had  been  fought — 
to  that  extent  Bragg  was  victor ;  but  Rosecrans  was  holding  Chattanooga, 
to  gain  which  he  made  the  strategic  movement,  and  the  victory  to  Bragg 
was  barren  of  results.  The  Confederate  commander  had  lost  nearly  one- 
third  of  his  army,  and  one  more  victory  like  it  would  have  been  his  ruin. 
The  loss  of  the  Union  army  was  one  thousand  six  hundred  and  fifty 
killed,  nine  thousand  five  hundred  wounded,  and  four  thousand  and  five 
taken  prisoners — nearly  sixteen  thousand.  Rosecrans  lost  fifty-one  cannon 
and  more  than  fifteen  thousand  muskets. 

No  complete  return  of  the  Confederate  loss  has  ever  been  given  ;  but 
being  the  attacking  party,  Bragg's  loss  must  have  been  much  greater  than 
Rosecrans's,  and,  from  the  partial  returns,  is  supposed  to  have  been  nearly 
or  quite  twenty  thousand,  and  fifteen  pieces  of  artillery. 


NOTES  TO  CHAPTER  XX. 

1 ])  Rosecrans's  Report. 

( 2)  Thomas's  Report. 

( 3)  Pollard,  "The  Lost  Cause,"  p.  450. 

(  4)  D.  H.  Hill,  Century  Magazine,  April,  1887. 

( 5)  Pollard,  "The  Lost  Cause,"  p.  450. 

( 6)  Col.  Morton  C.  Hunter,  quoted  in  the  National  Tribune. 

( 7)  Gen.  H.  V.  Boynton,  National  Tribune. 

( 8)  Col.  J.  S.  Fullerton,  Granger's  chief  of  staff,  Century  Magazine,  April,  1887 

( 9)  Longstreet,  letter  to  D.  H.  Hill,  Century  Magazine,  April,  1887. 

(10)  Col.  J.  S.  Fullerton,  Century  Magazine,  April,  1887. 
(»)  D.  H.  Hill,  Century  Magazine,  April,  1887. 

(")  General  Hindman's  Report. 
(I3)  General  Garfield's  Report. 


420  MARCHING  TO  VICTORY. 


CHAPTEK  XXI. 

HOLDING   CHATTANOOGA. 

ENERAL  BRAGG,  after  the  battle  of  Chickamauga,  was  very  angry 
with  some  of  his  officers.  He  arrested  Lieutenant-general  Polk  and 
General  Hindman  for  not  executing  their  orders  promptly.  He  was  dis 
pleased  with  General  Breckinridge  and  with  General  Forrest,  and  so  dis 
liked  Gen.  D.  H.  Hill,  who  had  been  sent  to  him  from  the  east  by  Jeffer 
son  Davis,  that  he  directed  him  to  return  to  Richmond.  The  Confederate 
newspapers  criticised  Bragg  for  his  mismanagement  of  the  battle,  and  for 
not  following  up  the  victory,  and  said  that  unless  Rosecrans  was  driven 
out  of  Chattanooga  nothing  would  have  been  gained.  General  Bragg  was 
holding  Missionary  Ridge  and  Lookout  Mountain,  and  could  send  shot 
and  shell  into  Rosecrans's  lines.  He  held  the  railroad  which  runs  along 
the  southern  side  of  the  river  from  Chattanooga  to  Bridgeport,  compelling 
Rosecrans  to  bring  all  his  supplies  by  a  long,  circuitous  route  over  Wai- 
den's  Ridge  by  narrow  roads,  a  distance  of  sixty  miles. 

With  great  satisfaction  General  Bragg  could  look  down  from  his  head 
quarters  on  Missionary  Ridge  upon  the  white  tents  of  the  Union  army, 
with  the  confident  expectation  that  in  a  short  time  Rosecrans  would  be 
starved  out,  and  compelled  to  retreat  to  Murfreesboro.  He  said :  "  Pos 
sessed  of  the  shortest  route  to  his  depot,  and  the  one  by  which  reinforce 
ments  must  reach  him,  we  held  him  at  our  mercy,  and  his  destruction  was 
only  a  -question  of  time." 

Bragg  could  afford  to  wait  and  let  starvation  do  its  work ;  so  the 
Confederate  soldiers,  outnumbering  the  Union,  rested.  The  soldiers  of 
both  armies  drew  water  from  Chattanooga  Creek,  held  conversations,  ex 
changed  newspapers,  and  chaffed  one  another  good-naturedly  —  the  Con 
federates  looking  for  starvation  to  the  Union  army ;  the  Union,  for  they 
knew  not  what. 

There  was  energetic  action  in  the  War  Department  at  Washington  when 
the  news  of  the  disaster  at  Chickamauga  and  the  retreat  of  Rosecrans  to 
Chattanooga  came  flashing  over  the  wires.  It  was  seen  that  the  transfer 


HOLDING  CHATTANOOGA.  421 

of  Longstreet's  corps  from  Lee's  army  to  Bragg's  had  enabled  the  Confed 
erates  to  strike  a  crushing  blow.  It  was  plain  that  to  give  up  Chattanoo 
ga  would  be  a  worse  disaster.  It  must  be  held.  The  Army  of  the  Cum 
berland  must  be  reinforced.  The  Secretary  of  War,  Mr.  Stanton,  was  a 
man  of  great  energy,  and  so  was  his  Assistant  Secretary,  Thomas  A.  Scott, 
who,  before  the  war,  had  been  manager  of  the  Pennsylvania  Eailroad,  and 
who  knew  how  many  cars  would  be  required  to  transport  one  thousand 
men ;  how  many  for  a  battery  of  artillery,  with  its  horses.  The  Eleventh 
Corps,  under  General  Howard,  and  the  Twelfth  Corps,  under  General 
Slocum,  were  with  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  on  the  Upper  Rapidan  at 
Raccoon  Ford.  The  order  for  the  movement  of  both  corps  was  issued 
on  September  23d,  three  days  after  the  battle  of  Chickamauga,  and  on 
the  24th  the  cars  were  ready.  The  infantry  and  artillery,  cannon,  horses, 
equipments,  tents — everything  belonging  to  the  two  corps — were  taken 
on  board  the  trains  and  transported  through  Washington,  Baltimore,  Har- 
risburg,  Pittsburg,  Cincinnati,  Louisville,  Nashville,  to  the  banks  of  the 
Tennessee — train  following  train  without  accident  —  men  and  horses  re 
ceiving  regular  rations,  arriving  October  4th  at  Stevenson,  Alabama.  It 
was  the  foreknowledge,  method,  and  energy  of  Thomas  A.  Scott  which 
accomplished  this.  The  two  corps  were  placed  under  the  command  of 
General  Hooker.  They  were  halted  at  Stevenson  and  Bridgeport;  for 
had  they  been  taken  to  Chattanooga  they  would  have  been  a  hinderance 
rather  than  a  help  to  the  Army  of  the  Cumberland,  with  so  little  to  eat, 
and  the  difficulties  of  obtaining  supplies  constantly  increasing. 

General  Grant  was  at  Yicksburg.  While  Rosecrans  was  making  his 
movement  to  Chickamauga,  General  Halleck  sent  a  message  to  General 
Grant  asking  him  to  send  troops  to  aid  the  Army  of  the  Cumberland. 

Three  divisions  of  Sherman's  corps  were  encamped  on  the  bank  of 
Big  Black  River,  twenty  miles  from  Yicksburg,  but  in  forty-eight  hours 
Osterhaus's  division  was  on  board  steamboats  moving  up  the  Mississippi 
to  Memphis,  followed,  as  soon  as  steamboats  could  be  obtained,  by  the 
other  divisions. 

There  was  no  telegraph  between  Yicksburg  and  Cairo,  and  all  de 
spatches  had  to  be  carried  by  steamboat.  On  October  10th  General  Grant 
received  this  despatch :  "  It  is  the  wish  of  the  Secretary  of  War  that  as 
soon  as  General  Grant  is  able  to  take  the  field  he  will  come  to  Cairo  and 
report  by  telegraph."  It  was  nearly  noon  when  the  message  was  placed  in 
his  hands,  but  before  night  he  was  on  his  waxy  up  the  Mississippi  with  the 
members  of  his  staff.  He  reached  Cairo  October  17th,  where  he  received 
a  despatch  instructing  him  to  proceed  at  once  to  the  Gait  House,  Louis- 


422  MARCHING   TO   VICTORY. 

ville.  There  was  no  railroad  leading  from  Cairo  directly  to  that  city; 
the  quickest  route  was  by  rail  north  through  Illinois  to  Mattoon,  thence 
east  to  Indianapolis,  then  south  to  Louisville.  At  Indianapolis  a  very  able 
and  energetic  man  stepped  on  board  the  train — Edwin  M.  Stanton,  Secre 
tary  of  War,  who  had  arrived  from  Washington  by  a  special  train,  and 
who  rode  with  General  Grant  the  remainder  of  the  journey.  They  never 
had  met  before.  "  Here  are  two  orders,"  said  Mr.  Stanton ;  "  you  may 
take  your  choice  of  them."(2)  The  orders  made  the  whole  of  the  country 
between  the  Alleghanies  and  the  Mississippi  River  into  one  military  de 
partment  under  his  command.  One  order  left  General  Rosecrans  in  com 
mand  of  the  Army  of  the  Cumberland ;  the  other  relieved  him,  and  con 
ferred  the  command  of  that  army  upon  General  Thomas.  General  Grant 
chose  the  second. 

On  the  evening  after  their  arrival  at  Louisville  a  despatch  was  sent 
by  the  Assistant  Secretary  of  War,  Charles  A.  Dana,  who  was  with  the 
army  at  Chattanooga,  to  Mr.  Stanton  informing  him  that  General  Rose- 
crans  was  just  ready  to  abandon 'the  place  and  retreat,  and  advising  that 
peremptory  orders  be  issued  for  holding  it.  General  Grant  sent  a  mes 
sage  informing  Thomas  that  he  had  been  appointed  to  command,  and  that 
Rosecrans  had  been  relieved  ;  that  Chattanooga  must  be  held  at  all  haz 
ards  ;  and  the  answer  came,  "  We  will  hold  the  town  till  we  starve." 

To  have  retreated  would  have  been  a  great  disaster ;  the  cannon  and 
the  wagon-trains  could  not  have  been  taken  over  the  mountains  for  want 
of  horses.  These  the  words  of  General  Grant :  "It  would  not  only  have 
been  the  loss  of  the  most  important  strategic  position  to  us,  but  it  would 
have  been  attended  with  the  loss  of  all  the  artillery  still  left  with  the 
Army  of  the  Cumberland,  and  the  loss  of  that  army  itself,  either  by  capt 
ure  or  annihilation. "(3) 

The  supplies  for  the  army  were  all  brought  from  Nashville  by  railroad 
to  Bridgeport.  The  distance  between  Bridgeport  ami  Chattanooga  was 
twenty-six  miles,  but  when  General  Rosecrans  gave  up  Lookout  Mount 
ain  he  lost  control  of  the  railroad  which  winds  along  its  base.  The  wagon- 
road  on  the  north  bank  was  commanded  by  Bragg's  artillery  and  his  sharp 
shooters,  who,  with  their  long-range  Whitworth  rifles,  made  in  England, 
secreting  themselves  amid  the  rocks,  suddenly  opened  fire  upon  a  wagon- 
train,  killing  the  mules,  and  putting  a  stop  to  the  further  use  of  the  road. 
The  shutting  up  of  the  route  compelled  the  wagon -trains  to  pass  over 
Walden's  Ridge.  It  took  a  week  for  a  wagon  to  go  to  Bridgeport  and 
return  to  Chattanooga.  The  fall  rains  were  setting  in,  and  the  roads  were 
deep  with  mud,  the  wheels  sinking  to  the  axles.  One  day  a  teamster  saw 


HOLDING   CHATTANOOGA. 


423 


CONFEDERATE  RIFLEMEN  FIRING   UPON  A  UNION   WAGON-TRAIN. 

From  a  sketch  by  an  English  artist,  taken  at  the  time. 

his  wagon  go  down  till  its  bed  rested  on  the  mud ;  instead  of  whipping 
his  mules  and  swearing,  he  sat  down  on  a  rock  and  cried. (4)  When  the 
teams  were  doubled,  and  eight  mules  were  harnessed  to  one  wagon,  they 
could  draw  only  half  a  load.  The  quartermasters  at  Nashville  and  Mur- 
freesboro  could  not,  for  want  of  railroad  facilities,  supply  animals  to  take 
the  places  of  those  that  died  from  overwork  and  scanty  feed.  Ten  thou 
sand  animals  died,  and  their  carcasses  lined  the  way  and  tainted  the  air 
over  Walden's  Ridge  and  down  the  Sequatchie  Valley.  The  soldiers  were 
living  on  half  rations,  and  guards  had  to  be  stationed  at  the  troughs  to 
prevent  the  hungry  soldiers  from  robbing  the  horses  and  mules  of  their 
scanty  allowance  of  corn.  They  picked  up  scattered  kernels  and  bits  of 
bread  to  satisfy  their  hunger.(5)  Cattle  driven  from  Nashville  were  so  thin 


424  MARCHING  TO  VICTORY. 

and  poor,  for  want  of  grazing,  that  the  soldiers  said  they  were  eating  beef 
dried  on  the  hoof.Q  There  were  so  few  horses  and  mules  left  that  food 
only  could  be  taken  from  Bridgeport.  The  soldiers  were  greatly  in  need 
of  blankets,  clothes,  and  shoes;  many  were  barefoot.  All  the  forests 
around  Chattanooga  had  been  cut  down  to  build  breastworks  and  fortifi 
cations  ;  and  to  obtain  fuel,  the  soldiers  went  up  the  north  bank  of  the 
river,  felled  trees,  rafted  them  down  to  Chattanooga,  and  carried  the  logs 
on  their  shoulders  to  their  camp.  The  army  had  hardly  ammunition 
enough  to  fight  a  battle,  for  the  Confederate  cavalry  had  crossed  the  Ten 
nessee  and  destroyed  an  ammunition-train.  Such  the  situation  of  affairs 
in  the  Union  army. 

There  was  disaffection  in  Bragg's  army,  and  Jefferson  Davis  hastened 
west  to  bring  about  harmony.  A  correspondent  wrote  of  his  arrival : 

"The  President  has  come,  and  all  men  believe,  to  turn  things  inside  out 
—to  renovate  the  army,  to  settle  household  quarrels,  and  set  the  troops  mov 
ing  on  their  way.  .  .  .  The  suspension  of  Polk,  the  arrest  of  Hindman,  the 
flare-up  with  Forrest,  and  the  disaffection  of  several  others,  all  recurring 
on  the  heels  of  victory,  are  enough  to  excite  anxiety."(7) 

The  Confederate  President  went  to  the  top  of  Lookout  Mountain 
and  beheld  the  vast  panorama  —  the  winding  Tennessee,  the  mountain 
ranges,  the  forests  clothed  in  autumnal  beauty,  the  encampments  of  the 
two  armies. 

At  Bragg's  headquarters  on  Missionary  Ridge  he  examined  the  maps 
of  the  country.  He  had  served  in  the  Mexican  War,  commanded  a  regi 
ment  at  the  battle  of  Buena  Yista.  He  was  commander-in-chief  of  all 
the  Confederate  forces.  Not  content  to  leave  the  planning  of  military 
movements  to  General  Bragg,  he  devised  a  movement  of  Longstreet's 
corps  to  Eastern  Tennessee,  to  drive  out  Burnside,  regain  that  section  of 
country  to  the  Confederacy,  and  reopen  the  railroad  to  Virginia. (8)  A 
Confederate  writer  says :  "  He  was  in  furious  love  with  the  extraordinary 
expedition,  and  in  a  public  address  to  the  army  he  could  not  resist  the 
temptation  of  announcing  that  the  green  fields  of  Tennessee  would  short 
ly  again  be  theirs."(9) 

The  Confederate  army  was  sadly  in  need  of  supplies ;  the  soldiers  were 
on  half  rations.  A  Confederate  soldier  gives  this  account  of  their  supply 
of  food  :  "  Our  rations  were  cooked  up  by  a  special  detail  ten  miles  in  the 
rear,  and  were  sent  to  us  every  three  days ;  and  then  those  three  days'  ra 
tions  were  generally  eaten  at  one  meal,  and  the  soldiers  had  to  starve  the 
other  two  days  and  a  half.  The  soldiers  were  starved  and  almost  naked, 
and  covered  all  over  with  vermin  and  camp-itch  and  filth  and  dirt.  The 


HOLDING  CHATTANOOGA.  425 

men  looked  sick,  hollow-eyed,  and  heart-broken—living  principally  upon 
parched  corn  which  had  been  picked  out  of  the  mud  and  dirt  under  the 
feet  of  the  officers'  horses.  We  thought  of  nothing  but  starvation.  ...  In 
the  very  acme  of  our  privations  and  hunger,  when  the  army  was  most  dis 
satisfied  and  unhappy,  we  were  ordered  into  line  of  battle,  to  be  reviewed 
by  Honorable  Jefferson  Davis.  When  he  passed  us  with  his  great  retinue 
of  staff-officers  and  play-outs  at  full  gallop,  cheers  greeted  him  with  the 
words,  '  Send  us  something  to  eat,  Massa  Jeff.  I'm  hungry !  I'm  him- 

gry !"'(") 

He  said  to  the  soldiers,  in  an  address  published  October  14th,  "  Behind 
you  is  a  people  providing  for  your  support,  and  depending  upon  your  pro 
tection.  Before  you  is  a  country  devastated  by  ruthless  invaders,  where 
gentle  woman,  feeble  age,  and  helpless  infancy  have  been  subject  to  out 
rages  without  a  parallel  in  the  warfare  of  civilized  nations.  With  eager 
eye  they  watch  for  your  coming,  for  their  deliverance  ;  and  homeless  refu 
gees  pine  for  the  hour  when  your  victorious  arms  shall  restore  their  fam 
ily  shelters,  from  which  they  have  been  driven  and  forced  to  take  up  arms 
to  vindicate  their  political  rights,  freedom,  equality,  and  State  sovereignty, 
which  were  a  heritage  purchased  by  the  blood  of  your  Revolutionary  sires. 
You  have  but  the  alternative  of  being  slaves  of  submission  to  a  despotic 
usurpation,  or  of  independence,  which  a  vigorous,  united,  and  persistent 
effort  will  secure." 

The  address  of  President  Davis  reads  curiously  when  contrasted  with 
what  had  been  done  in  Eastern  Tennessee  by  the  Confederates,  in  the  hang 
ing  of  Union  men,  hunting  them  with  hounds,  and  sending  thousands  to 
prisons  in  Georgia  and  Alabama. 

While  General  Grant  was  making  his  way  to  Chattanooga,  Gen.  Will 
iam  F.  Smith,  chief  engineer,  was  setting  those  soldiers  who  before  the 
war  had  been  carpenters  and  blacksmiths,  to  work  building  a  saw -mill. 
When  it  was  completed  they  sawed  planks  and  began  the  construction  of 
large  flat-bottomed  boats.  We  shall  soon  see  how  the  boats  were  used. 
He  found  a  steam-engine  in  a  mill,  which  he  put  into  a  large  ferry-boat, 
built  a  paddle-wheel,  and  soon  had  a  stern -wheel  steamboat,  which  was 
named  the  Chattanooga. 

On  the  evening  of  October  23d  General  Grant  reached  General 
Thomas's  headquarters.  He  had  met  Rosecrans  at  Stevenson,  on  his  way 
North,  who  explained  the  situation  of  affairs.  General  Grant  had  been 
injured  by  the  stumbling  of  his  horse  and  was  obliged  to  use  crutches, 
but  was  able  to  ride  horseback,  and  the  next  morning  he  rode  along  the 
lines.  He  saw  that  the  first  thing  to  be  done  was  the  opening  of  a  shorter 


426 


MARCHING   TO   VICTORY. 


road  to  Bridgeport  to  obtain  supplies.  The  railroad  from  Chattanooga 
to  Stevenson,  after  winding  along  the  northern  base  of  Lookout  Mountain, 
passes  up  Lookout  Yalley  to  Wauhatchie  Station,  then  turns  west  through 
a  gap  in  Raccoon  Mountain,  and  comes  once  more  to  the  bank  of  the 
Tennessee  at  Shell  Mound,  twenty-two  miles  from  Chattanooga,  but  more 
than  forty  miles  to  the  same  point  by  the  river,  which  has  many  turns 
and  windings  amid  the  mountains.  From  Shell  Mound  the  railroad  goes 
on  to  Bridgeport,  where  it  crosses  the  Tennessee. 

General  Longstreet  had  extended  the  Confederate  line  westward  into 
Lookout  Yalley,  and  to  the  Tennessee  at  the  base  of  Raccoon  Mountain, 
whence  his  riflemen  fired  upon  the  Union  wagon  -  trains.  There  were 


POSITION  OF  UNION   AND   CONFEDERATE   TROOPS,  NOVEMBER   22,  1863. 

not  many  Confederate  troops  in  Lookout  Yalley,  and  they  were  so  far 
away  from  the  main  body  of  Bragg's  army,  east  of  Lookout,  that  General 
Grant  determined  to  carry  out  what  Rosecrans  had  already  planned — gain 
possession  of  Lookout  Yalley,  which  would  enable  him  to  send  down  the 
steamboat  Chattanooga  to  bring  supplies  from  Bridgeport  up  to  Kelley's 
Ferry,  only  eight  miles  from  the  army  by  the  road  through  Lookout 
Yalley.  If  the  Confederates  could  be  driven  from  the  valley,  the  army 
would  soon  have  abundant  supplies.  General  Smith  had  initiated  the 
plan  which  General  Rosecrans  had  accepted.  General  Thomas,  before 
Grant's  arrival,  had  continued  the  preparations,  and  the  plan  was  so  wise 
and  judicious  that  on  the  evening  after  his  arrival  he  issued  the  order  for 
carrying  it  out. 


HOLDING  CHATTANOOGA. 


427 


VIEW  FROM  THE   SUMMIT   OF   LOOKOUT   MOUNTAIN. 
From  a  sketch  made  November  20, 1863. 


General  Hooker,  with  the  Eleventh  and  Twelfth  corps,  was  on  the 
north  bank  of  the  river  at  Bridgeport,  and  the  plan  was  for  him  to  cross 
and  march  rapidly  along  the  railroad  to  Wauhatchie,  in  Lookout  Valley. 
In  connection  with  this  movement,  the  boats  which  the  carpenters  had 
been  secretly  building  up  the  river,  on  the  banks  of  North  Chickamauga 
Creek,  were  to  come  into  use.  They  were  to  be  launched  in  the  creek  at 
night.  General  Hazen's  brigade  was  to  step  on  board,  and  then  in  the 
darkness  the  boats  were  to  glide  noiselessly  down  -  stream,  hugging  the 
northern  shore,  past  the  Confederate  sentinels  at  the  base  of  Lookout  Mount 
ain.  When  near  Brown's  Ferry  they  were  to  push  swiftly  across  the  river, 
leap  up  the  bank,  capture  the  pickets,  and  hold  the  ground. 

While  the  boats  were  gliding  down-stream  General  Palmer's  division  of 
the  Fourteenth  Corps  was  to  be  on  the  march  towards  Brown's  Ferry, 
ready  to  cross  as  soon  as  the  boats  had  landed  Hazen's  troops. 


428  MARCHING  TO  VICTORY. 

As  General  Smith  had  planned  the  movement,  General  Grant  intrusted 
its  execution  to  him.  He  had  thought  out  all  the  details.  Standing  on 
the  northern  bank,  opposite  Brown's  Ferry,  he  pointed  out  to  General 
Hazen  and  the  officers  who  were  to  be  in  the  boats  a  gap  in  the  hills. 
Just  before  reaching  it  they  were  to  steer  across  the  river,  and  the  current, 
with  a  little  use  of  the  oars,  would  swing  them  to  the  right  position.  A 
fire  was  to  be  lighted  on  the  northern  shore  at  the  spot  where  the  oars 
were  to  dip  the  water.  There  were  fifty-two  boats,  each  intrusted  to  the 
command  of  a  well-known  and  trustworthy  leader,  sufficient  to  transport 
thirteen  hundred  and  fifty  picked  men.  If  a  man  knew  how  to  manage 
a  boat,  even  though  only  a  sergeant,  he  was  placed  in  command. (u)  As 
soon  as  the  men  were  on  shore,  the  oarsmen  were  to  pull  across  the  river 
and  take  over  the  other  troops  in  waiting.  As  soon  as  the  landing-party 
reached  tfe«  crest  of  the  hills,  axes  were  to  be  used  in  cutting  down  trees 
for  an  afcstis.  A  strong  party  of  skirmishers  was  to  cover  those  at  work 
with  the  axes. 

It  was  a  little  past  midnight  when  the  boats  pushed  out  from  the  creek 
and  moved  down  to  Chattanooga.  At  three  o'clock  all  were  ready.  Gen 
eral  Hazen  wished  to  reach  the  landing  just  before  daybreak.  One  thou 
sand  three  hundred  and  fifty  men  stepped  into  the  boats.  A  fog  hung  over 
the  river.  No  word  was  spoken.  They  floated  past  the  Confederate  pick 
ets,  rounding  the  bend  opposite  Lookout.  Just  above  Brown's  Ferry  they 
saw  a  fire  burning  on  the  northern  bank.  Instantly  the  oars  dipped  the 
water,  and  they  shot  across  the  river.  A  few  strokes,  and  they  were  at 
the  southern  shore.  The  few  Confederate  pickets  fired,  but  no  one  was 
harmed.  The  skirmishers  pushed  forward,  followed  by  the  men  with  axes. 
A  position  was  selected,  and  the  axe-men  were  quickly  at  work.  Back  to 
the  northern  shore  went  the  boats,  returning  with  reinforcements.  The 
engineers  quickly  constructed  a  pontoon-bridge,  opening  communication 
with  the  northern  shore. 

While  this  was  going  on,  Hooker,  who  had  crossed  at  Bridgeport,  was 
on  the  march,  reaching  Lookout  Valley  on  the  28th,  the  Eleventh  Corps 
in  advance.  Suddenly  a  volley  was  fired  upon  them,  whereupon  two  bri 
gades  deployed,  which  drove  the  Confederates,  who  retreated  across  Look 
out  Creek,  burning  the  railroad  bridge  behind  them.  The  Union  troops 
captured  two  thousand  bushels  of  corn  and  twenty  cattle.  The  corn  was 
unshelled.  The  soldiers  were  so  hungry  that  they  punched  holes  in  their 
canteens  with  nails,  transforming  them  into  graters,  grated  the  corn  into 
coarse  meal,  which  they  made  into  dough,  and  baked  it  by  their  bivouac 
fires. 


HOLDING   CHATTANOOGA.  431 

The  Confederate  commander  was  surprised  when  he  heard  that  a 
strong  division  of  the  Union  army  was  on  the  southern  bank,  and  that  a 
bridge  of  boats  wras  being  laid.  The  cannon  on  the  summit  of  Lookout 
hurled  shells  down  upon  the  bridge-builders  and  into  the  woods  occupied 
by  the  Union  troops,  but  they  did  little  harm.  When  the  Confederates 
saw  from  the  top  of  the  mountain  the  dark  column  of  troops  under 
Hooker  winding  along  the  road  from  the  wrest,  General  Bragg  knew  that  the 
movement  was  to  gain  possession  of  the  railroad,  and  that  if  it  was  ac 
complished  the  Union  troops  would  soon  have  abundant  supplies,  and  he 
therefore  directed  Longstreet  to  attack  the  advancing  column.  The  Con 
federate  troops  were  on  the  mountain.  Longstreet  saw  that  Geary's  divis 
ion  of  the  Twelfth  Corps  went  into  bivouac  at  Wauhatchie,  three  miles 
from  Howard,  who,  with  the  Eleventh  Corps,  had  joined  Hazen.  Hooker 
had  placed  Geary  at  Wauhatchie  to  hold  a  road,  and  to  cut  off  some  Con 
federates  who  were  posted  along  the  river.  Longstreet  determined  to  send 
a  large  detachment  to  crush  Geary,  and  another  force  to  take  a  position 
which  would  prevent  Hooker  from  sending  any  of  the  Eleventh  Corps  to 
his  aid. 

Stevenson's  Confederate  division  came  down  the  mountain-side.  It 
was  a  moonlight  night,  and  the  troops  picked  their  way  cautiously  through 
the  woods.  Their  guides  knew  every  path.  The  Union  troops  were  sleep 
ing  after  their  long  march — all  but  the  pickets,  who  could  hear  a  tramping 
of  feet,  and  who  caught  sight  of  the  Confederates  as  they  formed  in  line  of 
battle  to  attack  on  three  sides  at  the  same  moment. 

It  was  past  midnight  when  the  pickets  fired.  The  alarm  ran  along 
the  lines,  and  in  an  instant  the  men  were  on  their  feet.  Geary  had  se 
lected  a  line  for  defence,  and  was  prepared  for  the  onslaught.  The  Con 
federates  fired  a  volley,  and  received  one  in  return.  The  Confederate 
artillery  on  the  mountain  sent  its  shells  down  into  the  woods,  and  the  re 
verberations  rolled  along  the  valley,  echoing  from  the  mountain,  arousing 
from  sleep  Howard's  and  Hazen's  troops. 

"  Geary  is  attacked.  Hurry  to  his  aid !"  was  the  order  from  Hooker 
to  Howard,  who  sent  Schurz's  division.  There  came  a  rattling  fire  from 
the  hills  in  front  of  Schurz,  whose  troops  fixed  their  bayonets,  charged  up 
the  hill,  breaking  the  Confederate  lines  and  driving  all  before  them. 

Howard  and  two  companies  of  cavalry  came  out  into  a  field,  and  saw 
by  the  moonlight  a  body  of  troops. 

"  Who  goes  there  ?"  shouted  Howard.(13) 

"  We  are  Stevenson's  men." 

"  Have  you  whipped  the  Yankees  ?" 


432 


MARCHING   TO   VICTORY. 


We  got  upon  their  flank,  but  were  driven,  and  have 
With  the  word  the  cavalry  closed  around 


"  We  have  tried, 
lost  our  way." 

"You  are  our  prisoners." 
them. 

For  more  than  two  hours  the  battle  had  raged,  Geary  resisting  every 
attempt  to  break  his  lines.  When  the  Eleventh  Corps  came  up,  Ste 
venson,  repulsed  at  every  point,  gave  up  the  struggle.  He  had  lost  several 
hundred  in  killed  and  wounded,  and  had  gained  nothing. 


STEAMER    "CHATTANOOGA,"  BUILT   BY   THE   SOLDIERS. 
From  a  sketch  made  at  the  time. 

Behind  Hooker  was  a  long  line  of  wagons  loaded  with  food  ;  and  when 
morning  dawned  the  steamer  Chattanooga,  which  the  carpenters  and  black 
smiths  had  built,  loaded  with  supplies,  came  puffing  round  the  bend  of  the 
river  to  the  landing  at  Brown's  Ferry,  and  then  there  went  up  from  the 
fifty  thousand  soldiers  of  the  Union  army  a  hurrah  heard  by  the  Confed 
erates  from  the  summit  of  Lookout  Mountain  to  Bragg's  headquarters  on 
Missionary  Ridge.  No  more  half  rations.  No  longer  looking  starvation 
in  the  face.  In  the  wagons  were  boots,  shoes,  blankets,  clothing,  and  medi 
cines  for  the  sick.  The  army  took  a  long  breath. 


HOLDING  CHATTANOOGA.  433 

While  these  events  were  taking  place  General  Sherman  was  making 
his  way  eastward  from  Memphis.  His  troops  were  repairing  the  railroad 
as  they  advanced.  They  reached  Tuscumbia,  in  Alabama,  when  a  man 
came  to  him  with  a  note  from  General  Grant :  "  Drop  all  work  on  the 
Memphis  and  Charleston  Railroad,  and  hurry  eastward  with  all  possible 
despatch  towards  Bridgeport,  till  you  meet  further  orders  from  me." 

The  man  who  brought  it  had  floated  down  the  river  in  a  canoe,  over 
Muscle  Shoals,  and  had  been  fired  at  by  the  Confederate  scouts. 

By  the  aid  of  the  gunboats  and  steamers  the  troops  were  ferried  across 
the  river.  The  country  was  infested  with  guerillas,  who  seized  two  of 
General  Sherman's  clerks,  stripped  off  their  coats,  tied  them  to  the  tail  of 
a  wagon,  and  drove  rapidly  away.  General  Sherman  had  no  cavalry  to 
send  in  pursuit.  He  knew  that  the  guerillas  were  sons  or  neighbors  of 
the  citizens  of  the  town.  He  therefore  seized  three  of  the  prominent 
men  of  Florence,  and  told  them  how  his  clerks  had  been  captured. 

"  These  guerillas  are  your  own  sons  or  your  neighbors  ;  you  know  their 
haunts,"  he  said,  "  and  unless  the  two  men  are  returned  within  twenty- 
four  hours,  I'll  have  you  tied  up  and  treated  as  they  have  been."(18) 

The  frightened  citizens  saw  that  General  Sherman  was  not  a  man  to  be 
trifled  with,  and  messengers  rode  in  hot  haste  in  search  of  the  guerillas, 
bringing  back  the  two  men  whom  they  had  seized. 

On  the  night  of  November  14th  General  Sherman  reached  Chattanoo 
ga  in  advance  of  his  troops,  who  were  m°king  long  marches  in  their  eager 
ness  to  help  the  Army  of  the  Cumberland. 


NOTES  TO  CHAPTER  XXI. 

( !)  Bragg's  Report. 

( 2)  Grant, " Personal  Memoirs," p.  18. 

( 3)  Idem,  p.  24. 

( 4)  J.  S.  Fullerton,  Century  Magazine,  April,  1887,  p.  137. 

( 5)  Idem. 

( 6)  Grant," Personal  Memoirs,"  p.  25. 

( 7)  Hazen,"  A  Narrative  of  Military  Service,"  p.  155. 

( 8)  General  Howard,  National  Tribune. 

( 9)  Pollard,  "The  Lost  Cause,"  p.  436. 

(10)  Watkins,"  History  of  the  First  Tennessee  Regiment,"  p.  100. 
(n)  "Memoirs  of  General  W.  T.  Sherman, "  vol.  i.,  p. 338. 

(12)  General  Howard,  National  Tribune. 

(13)  "  Memoirs  of  General  W.  T.  Sherman,"  vol.  i.,  p.  388. 


4:34  MAKCHING  TO  VICTOKY. 


CHAPTER  XXII. 

LOOKOUT   MOUNTAIN  AND  MISSIONARY  RIDGE. 

AT  General  Bragg's  headquarters  on  Missionary  Ridge,  on  the  evening 
of  November  3d,  Jefferson  Davis's  plan  for  Longstreet's  movement 
to  drive  Burnside  out  of  Eastern  Tennessee  was  unfolded  by  General  Bragg 
to  his  officers.  Burnside  had  about  twenty  thousand  men.  Longstreet 
would  have  about  fifteen  thousand  infantry  and  artillery,  and  five  thousand 
cavalry.  General  Jones,  who  was  at  Abingdon,  in  Virginia,  was  to  move 
west,  and  between  them  Burnside  would  be  ground  as  fine  as  meal  be 
tween  two  millstones.  It  was  a  fascinating  plan.  It  was  more  than  one 
hundred  miles  from  Chattanooga  to  Knoxville,  but  Longstreet  could  move 
his  troops  rapidly  a  portion  of  the  way  by  rail.  Jones  could  advance  from 
Abingdon  by  rail,  and  they  would  make  quick  work  of  it.  Bragg  would 
keep  the  A*my  of  the  Cumberland  besieged  in  Chattanooga  the  while, 
and  when  Burnside  was  crushed  would  reunite  his  forces  and  close 
around  Grant. 

"The  success  of  the  plan  depends  on  rapid  movements  and  sudden 
blows,"  were  the  words  of  Bragg  to  Longstreet.  "  The  country  will  sub 
sist  your  command.  You  are  to  drive  Burnside  out  of  East  Tennessee ; 
or,  better,  capture  and  destroy  him."(J) 

General  Bragg  left  out  an  important  factor  in  his  calculations — the  loco 
motives  and  cars.  He  had  not  looked  ahead  to  ascertain  how  many  locomo 
tives  and  cars  he  would  need,  or  where  he  could  obtain  them.  The  single 
line  of  railroad  leading  to  Atlanta  was  taxed  to  its  utmost  in  bringing  sup 
plies.  The  engines  and  cars  were  wearing  out,  and  so  was  the  road.  The 
Confederacy  could  conscript  men  into  military  service,  but  it  could  not  find 
men  to  build  locomotives.  As  the  war  went  on,  it  became  more  and  more 
manifest  that  it  was  a  struggle  between  two  systems  of  labor,  between 
ignorance  and  knowledge,  between  weakness  and  power.  The  soldiers 
of  the  Confederacy  might  be  just  as  virtuous  personally,  as  brave,  as  able 
to  stand  hardship,  as  soldiers  of  the  Union ;  but  the  people  beneath  the 
Stars  and  Stripes  could  file  iron  to  a  hair's-breadth  ;  could  build  machines 


II 

?2 
tc  - 


—   3       O 

»  SB    a 


HI 


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C    O 

£'  QJ 


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|| 


LOOKOUT  MOUNTAIN  AND  MISSIONARY  EIDGE.  437 

to  do  the  work  of  human  hands,  which  the  men  beneath  the  flag  of  the 
Confederacy  could  not  do.  Slavery  degraded  labor ;  freedom  ennobled  it. 
The  men  who  brought  about  the  conspiracy  against  the  Union  to  over 
throw  the  Government  despised  mechanics.  The  laboring  men  of  the 
North  had  been  called  "greasy  mechanics  "  and  "mud-sills"  on  the  floor  of 
Congress.  But  the  men  who  shovelled  coal  into  flaming  forges,  who  tend 
ed  tilt-hammers,  who  filed  iron,  were  turning  out  locomotives  by  the  hun 
dred  and  cars  by  the  thousand.  They  had  made  it  possible  for  General 
Hooker  and  the  Eleventh  and  Twelfth  corps  to  be  transported  from  the 
Rapidan  to  the  Tennessee,  with  all  their  baggage,  artillery,  and  horses,  in 
seven  days — beginning  the  journey  of  one  thousand  miles  in  twenty-four 
hours  after  the  issuing  of  the  order. 

On  the  morning  of  November  4th  Longstreet  withdrew  his  corps  from 
Lookout  Mountain,  and  marched  to  the  railroad  behind  Missionary  Ridge, 
where  he  waited  till  the  llth  before  a  locomotive  and  a  train  of  cars 
could  be  procured  to  transport  his  supplies. 

General  Grant  learned  from  his  scouts  on  the  fifth  that  Longstreet  was 
moving  towards  East  Tennessee. 

"  I  will  endeavor  to  bring  him  back,"  was  his  message  to  Burnside. 

He  proposed  to  attack  Bragg,  which  he  believed  would  compel  him  to 
order  Longstreet  to  return. 

"  Attack  the  northern  end  of  Missionary  Ridge  with  all  the  force  you 
can  bring  to  bear,"  was  his  order  to  Thomas.  "  If  you  have  not  artillery 
horses,  mules  must  be  taken  from  the  teams  and  horses  from  the  ambu 
lances  ;  or,  if  necessary,  officers  must  be  dismounted  and  their  horses 
taken." 

"  I  am  absolutely  unable  to  move,"  said  Thomas. (2) 

How  hard  it  is  to  be  helpless!  General  Grant  could  not  advance 
against  Bragg  for  want  of  horses,  nor  could  he  render  assistance  to  Burn- 
side,  who  must  be  left  to  confront  the  forces  gathering  to  overwhelm 
him.  He  must  wait  for  more  horses  and  for  Sherman's  arrival  before  he 
could  take  the  aggressive. 

It  was  the  energy  of  Napoleon — his  quick  movements,  his  forethought 
about  provisions  and  supplies,  his  far-seeing,  and  his  ability  to  infuse  his 
own  indomitable  energy  into  his  men — which  gave  him  so  many  victories. 
The  Northern  States  were  feeling  General  Grant's  energy.  Carpenters 
in  Ohio  were  building  bridges.  Locomotive  -  builders  in  Philadelphia 
were  hurrying  to  complete  locomotives.  Steamboat  captains  from  New 
Orleans  to  St.  Louis  and  Pittsburg  were  under  his  orders.  Two  hundred 
thousand  soldiers  were  obeying  his  commands — not  all  at  Chattanooga,  but 


438  MARCHING  TO   VICTORY. 

all  over  the  West — guarding  railroads,  chasing  guerillas,  forwarding  sup 
plies,  getting  ready  to  strike  a  blow. 

Day  and  night  the  cars  were  running  on  the  railroad.  Steamboats 
towing  barges  were  ascending  the  Cumberland.  Everybody  felt  that  tire 
less  energy.  When  Sherman  reached  the  Tennessee  and  wanted  boats  to 
cross,  he  found  them  waiting,  provided  by  General  Grant  in  advance. 

November  14th  Sherman  was  at  Bridgeport.  On  the  night  of  the 
15th  he  was  talking  with  Grant  at  Chattanooga.  The  next  morning 
Grant  and  Sherman  and  Thomas  were  in  the  saddle  looking  at  the  north 
ern  end  of  Missionary  Ridge.  On  the  18th  Sherman's  soldiers  were 
marching  past  the  troops  of  Hooker  and  Thomas,  and  taking  position 
behind  the  hills  on  the  north  bank  of  the  Tennessee,  opposite  the  north 
ern  end  of  Missionary  ftidge.  We  find  no  parallel  to  this  in  military 
campaigns — two  corps  brought  from  the  Army  of  the  Potomac,  one  thou 
sand  miles ;  the  Fifteenth  Corps  from  Yicksburg,  a  march  of  four  hun 
dred  miles ;  a  lifting  of  the  army  out  of  despondency  to  exultation,  and 
confident  expectation  of  victory.  Bragg  had  made  a  mistake  by  dividing 
his  army  and  sending  oft'  Longstreet  at  the  moment  when  he  most  needed 
him.  He  had  not  been  far-seeing  enough  to  forecast  Grant's  plan  of  con 
centration. 

Bragg  learned  that  Sherman  had  arrived,  and  sent  a  letter  under  a  flag 
of  truce  to  Grant  November  20th . 

"As  there  may  still  be  some  non-combatants  in  Chattanooga,  I  deem 
it  proper  to  notify  you  that  prudence  would  dictate  their  early  with 
drawal,"  read  the  letter.(3) 

That  was  childish.  General  Grant  knew  that  Bragg  would  not  dare 
to  attack  him,  but  himself  determined  to  strike  a  blow  the  next  morning, 
but  the  rain  poured  during  the  night,  and  the  river  rose  rapidly.  Bragg 
set  his  soldiers  to  work  building  rafts,  which  came  down  upon  the  bridges 
of  boats  at  Chattanooga  and  Brown's  Ferry,  and  broke  them  asunder.  The 
Union  commander  must  wait  another  day. 

South  Chickamauga  Creek  bends  round  the  northern  end  of  Mission 
ary  Ridge,  turns  west,  and  runs  for  nearly  a  mile  almost  parallel  with  the 
Tennessee.  Bragg  had  only  a  thin  picket  line  along  the  creek.  His  can 
non  crowned  the  entire  crest  of  Missionary  Ridge.  Half-way  down  the 
ridge,  which  is  five  hundred  feet  high,  he  had  a  strong  line  of  earthworks. 
In  front  of  the  ridge  was  a  round  hill — Orchard  Knob ;  at  the  base  of 
which  were  other  lines  of  works,  and  in  front  a  line  of  formidable  rifle- 
pits. 

The  Union   earthworks  were   equally  strong.     On   the   highest   and 


LOOKOUT   MOUNTAIN   AND    MISSIONARY   RIDGE. 

most  advanced  hillock  of  the  line  stood  Fort  Wood,  with  twenty  heavy 
cannon. 

General  Grant  rode  alone  along  the  lines,  inspecting  every  point. (4) 
The  pickets  of  both  armies  drew  water  from  Chattanooga  Creek.  There 
was  a  mutual  understanding  that  they  would  not  fire  upon  one  another 
except  in  battle.  When  he  came  to  the  camp  of  the  picket  guard  he 
heard  the  sentinel  shout,  "  Turn  out  the  guard  for  the  commanding  gen 
eral/'  "  Never  mind  the  guard,"  he  said.  Upon  the  opposite  side  of  the 
creek  was  the  Confederate  guard,  and  General  Grant  heard  the  sentinel 
say,  "  Turn  out  the  guard  for  the  commanding  general,  Grant ;"  and  the 
next  moment  the  guard  stood  in  line  facing  him  and  gave  the  salute, 
which  he  returned  and  rode  away.  They  might  have  fired  a  volley,  but 
they  would  have  scorned  such  an  act.  In  battle  they  would  doubtless 
have  done  so,  but  they  had  too  high  a  sense  of  honor  to  fire  upon  him 
then  and  there  He  rode  on,  and  came  to  a  log  which  had  been  felled 
across  the  stream  A  soldier  in  blue  stood  upon  the  farther  end.  "  I 
commenced  conversing  with  him,"  said  General  Grant,  u  and  asked  whose 
corps  he  belonged  to.  He  was  very  polite,  and  touching  his  hat  to  me, 
said  he  belonged  to  General  Longstreefs  corps.  I  asked  him  a  few  ques 
tions,  but  not  with  a  view  of  gaining  any  particular  information,  all  of 
which  he  answered,  and  I  rode  off/' 

We  are  not  to  think  that  the  soldiers  of  the  two  armies  bore  any 
hatred  to  each  other  individually,  but  that  they  were  under  different  flags, 
representative  of  antagonistic  ideas  and  principles.  The  fighting  was  to 
be  in  the  shock  of  battle,  not  on  the  picket  line. 

The  pontoon-bridges  were  made  whole  once  more.  Behind  the  hills 
opposite  the  mouth  of  Chickamauga  Creek  General  Smith,  Chief  of  En 
gineers,  was  waiting  with  boats  for  another  bridge.  A  line  of  cannon, 
under  General  Brannan,  had  been  planted  on  the  hill,  pointing  across  the 
river.  Sherman's  troops,  with  the  exception  of  Osterhaus's  division,  were 
also  behind  the  hills.  Osterhaus  had  been  ordered  to  report  to  Hooker, 
who  was  in  Lookout  Valley,  where  he  had  been  since  the  battle  of  Wau- 
hatchie. 

We  come  to  the  night  of  the  23d.  The  boats  are  launched  in  North 
Chickamauga  Creek,  and  the  troops  under  Gen.  Giles  A.  Smith  step  in. 
A  few  strokes  of  the  oars  and  they  are  across  the  river,  capturing  Bragg' s 
pickets.  Before  daylight  Sherman,  with  eight  thousand  men,  is  opposite 
the  northern  end  of  Missionary  Ridge,  with  strong  intrenchments  thrown 
up,  and  the  engineers  are  building  a  bridge,  completed  before  night,  one 
thousand  three  hundred  and  fifty  feet  in  length. 


442  MARCHING  TO   VICTORY. 

"Bragg  is  sending  many  troops  against  Burnside,"  was  the  information 
from  Grant's  spies.  General  Grant  could  not  believe  it,  but  it  was  true, 
nevertheless.  Longstreet  had  called  for  more  men,  and  he  had  sent  Gen 
eral  Buckner's  two  divisions,  but  soon  recalled  one  of  them. 

To  deceive  Bragg  as  to  what  he  intends  to  do,  Grant  moves  the  Elev 
enth  Corps,  under  Howard,  into  the  town.  Bragg  sees  them  taking  posi 
tion  immediately  in  front  of  him,  towards  the  northern  end  of  Missionary 
Ridge,  as  if  to  make  an  attack  at  that  point. 

Let  us  see  the  position  of  the  Union  troops.  Sherman  is  opposite  the 
northern  end  of  Missionary  Ridge  ;  next  in  line  is  the  Fourth  Corps,  under 
Gen.  Gordon  Granger,  with  Sheridan's  division  on  the  right  and  Wood's 
on  the  left ;  the  Fourteenth  Corps  comes  next,  under  General  Palmer, 
with  Baird's  division  in  position  to  support  Granger's  right  wing.  John 
son's  division  is  in  reserve.  The  Eleventh  Corps,  under  Howard,  is'  on 
Granger's  left,  to  be  ready  to  move  wherever  it  may  be  needed. 

Going  now  down  the  river  and  out  on  the  road  from  the  pontoons  at 
Brown's  Ferry,  we  come  to  Hooker,  who  has  the  Twelfth  Corps,  under 
Geary,  Osterhaus's  division  of  Sherman's  corps,  and  Craft's  division  of 
the  Fourth  Corps. 

Lookout  Mountain  separates  Hooker  from  the  main  body  of  the  army, 
but  he  is  to  sweep  up  the  slope  of  the  mountain,  strike  the  left  wing  of 
the  Confederates,  get  in  their  rear,  and  drive  them,  if  possible,  from  the 
summit. 

General  Stevenson,  with  six  Confederate  brigades,  with  strong  breast 
works  and  redoubts  for  artillery,  holds  the  mountain-side.  Hooker  must 
climb  the  steep  ascent  in  the  face  of  a  deadly  fire. 

General  Sherman  moved  out  from  his  position  of  the  morning,  drove 
in  the  Confederate  skirmishers,  advanced  over  some  low  hills,  scaled  a  hill 
beyond,  which  he  had  supposed  was  the  main  ridge,  but  discovered  in 
stead  a  deep  ravine,  with  Missionary  Ridge,  bristling  with  Bragg' s  cannon, 
looming  above  it.  His  artillery  wheeled  into  position,  and  the  uproar 
began ;  but  he  was  not  ready  to  attack.  The  sun  went  down,  and  the 
troops  wrapped  themselves  in  their  blankets,  knowing  that  in  the  morning 
the  great  struggle  would  begin. 

"Attack  at  daylight,"  was  the  order  from  Grant  at  midnight  sent  to 
the  commanders. 

"  I  am  ready,"  was  the  response  from  Hooker  at  four  o'clock  in  the 
morning. 

Had  we  been  there  we  should  have  found  General  Stevenson,  with  a 
strong  picket  line,  along  the  east  bank  of  Lookout  Creek.  The  Confed- 


LOOKOUT  MOUNTAIN  AND  MISSIONARY  RIDGE.  445 

erate  soldiers  were  crou-ching  beneath  the  oak-trees,  wide-awake  and  ready 
for  battle.  The  ground  was  favorable  for  them.  There  were  gullies  and 
deep  ravines,  bowlders  and  ledges,  and  they  had  also  breastworks  and  rifle- 
pits. 

The  Twelfth  Corps,  under  Geary,  was  to  move  up  the  creek  and  find 
a  place  where  the  soldiers  could  ford  it.  Craft's  brigade  was  to  cross  near 
the  railroad.  The  clouds  hung  low,  and  there  was  a  heavy  mist.  The 
morning  had  not  dawned  when  the  troops  began  to  move.  We  see  them 
picking  their  way  over  the  uneven  ground,  Cruft  advancing  to  the  creek. 
Muskets  flash  upon  the  opposite  bank.  A  volley  rings  out  upon  the  morn 
ing  air,  rolling  up  the  mountain.  Stevenson's  men  are  on  their  feet,  but 
before  any  reinforcements  can  reach  the  soldiers  guarding  the  bridge  the 
Union  troops  are  in  possession  of  it.  The  mist  is  so  thick  that  the  Con 
federates  do  not  see  Geary,  who  is  making  his  way  up  the  creek.  Steven 
son  concentrates  his  troops  to  resist  Cruft's,  Wood's,  and  Grose's  brigades, 
who  have  captured  nearly  all  the  forty  men  guarding  the  bridge. 

Geary  finds  a  crossing-place,  moves  over,  and  the  men  begin  to  ascend 
the  mountain,  marching  north-east,  while  Cruft,  Grose,  and  Osterhaus  are 
moving  east. 

The  men  with  axes  are  hard  at  work  slashing  down  the  oaks  and  re 
building  the  bridge.  It  is  past  ten  o'clock,  however,  before  they  com 
plete  it  so  that  Osterhaus  can  cross.  The  battle  is  growing  warm,  with 
flashes  from  the  Confederate  breastworks,  and  wreaths  of  blue  smoke 
curling  above  Geary's  advancing  lines.  The  Confederates  in  front  of 
Cruft  and  Grose  give  way  and  flee  up  the  mountain  to  the  higher  breast 
works,  while  the  Union  troops  send  out  a  lusty  cheer. 

Hooker's  cannon  come  into  position,  and  the  thunder  rolls  along  the 
valley,  echoing  from  mountain  to  mountain. 

The  day  was  dark.  At  noon  the  clouds  were  thick  and  heavy,  envel 
oping  the  mountain.  The  Union  troops  in  Chattanooga  could  hear  the 
rattling  of  musketry  high  above  them,  and,  mingled  with  the  fusillade,  the 
cheers  of  Hooker's  troops  as  the  Confederates  gave  way,  fleeing  up  the 
mountain,  throwing  aside  arms,  cartridge-boxes,  and  blankets. 

Bragg  had  sent  reinforcements,  but  they  were  too  late  to  retrieve  the 
ground  lost  by  the  giving  way  of  Stevenson's  troops,  which  were  rallied 
behind  the  breastworks  on  the  farm  of  Mr.  Craven,  whose  whitewashed 
cottage,  high  up  on  the  mountain-side,  on  bright  days  stood  out  clear  and 
distinct  amid  the  green  fields  and  patches  of  woodland. 

The  blood  of  Hooker's  men  was  up,  for  they  had  driven  the  Confeder 
ates  from  a  chosen  position.  It  was  exhilarating  to  climb  the  mountain- 


44:6  MARCHING  TO   VICTORY. 

side  in  pursuit,  to  enter  the  clouds,  pressing  the  -fugitives  in  front  and 
on  the  flank,  closing  around  and  capturing  eight  hundred  of  them.  At 
four  o'clock  Hooker  was  in  possession  of  the  whole  western  slope  of  the 
mountain.  Carlin's  brigade  came  up,  and  the  line  was  extended  around 
the  northern  end,  connecting  with  Thomas's  troops  in  Chattanooga. 

Night  set  in  dark  and  rainy.  The  Union  troops,  weary  with  fighting 
and  climbing,  well  satisfied  with  what  they  had  accomplished,  kindled 
great  fires,  cooked  their  coffee,  wrapped  themselves  in  their  blankets,  and 
made  themselves  as  comfortable  as  they  could  through  the  night. 

Bragg  saw  that  he  could  not  hold  Lookout  Mountain,  and  so  during 
the  night  the  Confederates  destroyed  their  provisions,  descended  the 
eastern  slope,  crossed  Chattanooga  Creek,  and  joined  the  main  body  of 
Bragg's  army  on  Missionary  Ridge. 

General  Grant  issued  his  orders  for  the  next  day's  operations.  At 
daylight  General  Sherman  was  to  attack  the  right  flank  of  the  Confed 
erates  at  the  northern  end  of  Missionary  Ridge.  Hooker  at  the  same 
moment  was  to  descend  the  eastern  side  of  Lookout  Mountain,  cross  Chat 
tanooga  Creek,  push  on  towards  Rossville,  and  strike  the  left  flank  of 
Bragg.  Howard  was  to  join  Sherman,  while  the  Army  of  the  Cumberland, 
under  Thomas,  was  to  be  ready  to  move  at  the  right  moment,  wherever 
the  troops  might  be  needed. 

The  drizzling  rain  ceases,  the  clouds  roll  away.  The  morning  sun 
throws  its  beams  upon  Lookout  Mountain,  and  the  soldiers  of  the  Army 
of  the  Cumberland,  gazing  upon  it,  behold  the  Stars  and  Stripes  wav 
ing  upon  the  topmost  cliff — the  spot  where,  a  few  days  before,  Jefferson 
Davis  had  looked  down  upon  the  beleaguered  Army  of  the  Cumberland, 
and  prophesied  its  discomfiture  and  retreat  to  Kentucky.  Loyal  soldiers 
ffom  Kentucky  were  waving  the  flag.  Captain  Wilson,  Sergeants  Wagner, 
Davis,  and  Woods,  and  Privates  Hill  and  Bradley,  of  the  Eighth  Ken 
tucky  Regiment,  had  climbed  over  the  rocks  to  find  the  Confederates 
gone.  The  soldiers  in  the  valley  beheld  them,  swung  their  hats,  and  the 
cheers  of  fifty  thousand  men  rent  the  air. 

The  Confederate  troops  at  sunrise  on  the  morning  of  November  25th 
were  all  on  Missionary  Ridge  —  Hardee's  corps  holding  the  northern 
end,  with  Cleburne's  division  in  front  of  Sherman.  Walker's  division, 
commanded  by  Gist,  was  near  the  railroad  tunnel ;  Stevenson's  and 
Cheatham's  divisions,  which  had  been  on  Lookout  Mountain,  and  on  the 
march  through  the  night,  were  at  sunrise  coming  into  position  to  the  left 
of  Cleburne.  General  Bate's  division  was  in  the  centre,  in  front  of 
Bragg's  headquarters.  Paton  Anderson's  division  held  the  ground  between 


LOOKOUT   MOUNTAIN  AND  MISSIONARY  RIDGE. 

Bate  and  Cheatham ;  Stewart's  division  extended  from  Bate  to  Rossville. 
In  all,  Bragg  had  forty-one  thousand  men,  and  one  hundred  and  twelve 
cannon,  holding  a  line  between  seven  and  eight  miles  in  length.  By  the 
loss  of  Lookout  Mountain,  by  sending  Longstreet  to  East  Tennessee,  he 
suddenly  found  himself  in  a  position  where  he  must  either  retreat  or  ac 
cept  battle.  It  is  said  that  some  of  the  Confederate  generals  had  advised 


REBEL   BATTERY    ON    THE   TOP   OF    LOOKOUT   MOUNTAIN. 

him  to  give  up  Missionary  Ridge  and  fall  back  to  the  stronghold  of  Buz 
zard's  Roost  and  Tunnel  Hill ;  for  Hooker,  descending  Lookout,  crossing 
Chattanooga  Creek,  and  moving  on  Rossville,  would  turn  his  left  flank 
and  cut  him  off  from  the  railroad.  General  Bragg  did  not  like  to  be 
advised  as  to  what  he  should  do,  and  determined  to  accept  battle,  con 
fident  that  he  could  hold  Missionary  Ridge  and  defeat  Grant.  During 
the  night  the  troops  of  Hardee  were  building  new  breastworks  of  trees 
and  stones  and  earth,  extending  down  the  north-eastern  slope  of  the  ridge 
to  Chickamauga  Creek. 


448  MARCHING   TO   VICTORY. 

Sherman  was  not  ready  at  daybreak.  With  much  difficulty  he  brought 
twelve  cannon  into  position,  and  it  took  time  to  reconnoitre  the  ground 
and  bring  his  troops  into  line ;  but  at  nine  o'clock  Corse's  brigade  ad 
vanced  over  a  knoll  thickly  set  with  scrubby  oaks  and  bushes.  Corse 
was  wounded  early  in  the  action,  but  his  men  held  firmly  to  the  ground 
they  had  taken.  Gen.  Morgan  L.  Smith's  division  moved  south  along  the 
base  of  the  ridge,  while  Corse's  troops  advanced  directly  against  it. 
Loomis's  brigade  moved  south-east  of  the  north-western  slope,  with  two 
brigades  of  John  E.  Smith's  division  in  reserve. 

Morgan  L.  Smith  advanced  through  thick  woods,  driving  the  Confed 
erate  skirmishers,  swinging  the  left  of  his  division  till  it  reached  the  rail 
road. 

General  Bragg,  fearing  that  Smith's  movement  would  cut  him  off  from 
his  supplies  at  Chickamauga  Station,  concentrated  his  troops  in  front  of 
Sherman  ;  for  from  his  position  on  the  ridge  he  could  see  in  the  clear 
bright  sunshine  every  movement  of  the  Union  troops. 

It  was  two  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  when  General  Sherman  ordered 
Matthias's  and  Raum's  brigades  of  John  E.  Smith's  division  to  advance 
against  Cle.burne's  division,  which,  up  to  this  hour,  had  held  Sherman  in 
check.  They  were  met  by  Gist's  Confederate  division,  which  fell  upon 
their  left  flank  and  repulsed  them,  capturing  a  number  of  the  Union  troops. 

Neither  General  Grant  nor  General  Sherman  had  comprehended  the 
strength  of  the  Confederate  position  at  the  northern  end  of  the  ridge; 
that  Bragg  with  a  small  number  of  troops  could  easily  hold  the  Union 
troops  at  bay,  for  the  nature  of  the  ground  would  not  permit  Sherman  to 
employ  more  than  half  of  the  twelve  brigades  in  his  command.  The  day 
was  waning — the  sun  rapidly  sinking  towards  the  western  mountain  ranges, 
and  nothing  had  been  accomplished.  The  order  for  Hooker  to  move  on 
Rossville  was  not  received  by  that  commander  till  past  ten  o'clock,  and 
when  he  reached  Chattanooga  Creek  he  found  that  the  Confederates  had 
destroyed  the  bridge,  and  that  the  creek,  swollen  by  rains,  could  not  be 
forded.  Osterhaus's  division  was  in  advance,  but  was  obliged  to  wait  till 
trees  could  be  felled  and  a  rude  bridge  constructed.  It  was  nearly  three 
o'clock  before  any  of  the  troops  crossed  the  stream  ;  but  once  on  the 
other  side,  Osterhaus  pushed  on  to  Rossville,  to  seize  the  gap  and  gain 
the  left  flank  of  Bragg,  who  weakened  his  centre  by  sending  Stewart's 
division  to  meet  the  movement. 

It  was  four  o'clock — the  sun  almost  down.  Grant,  at  Fort  Wood,  on  a 
hill  east  of  Chattanooga,  and  directly  in  front  of  Bragg's  headquarters, 
had  been  impatiently  waiting  to  hear  the  thunder  of  Hooker's  cannon. 


LOOKOUT  MOUNTAIN  AND   MISSIONARY  RIDGE.  449 

Through  the  day  the  Army  of  the  Cumberland  had  been  idle.  Grant 
had  seen  the  sunlight  gleaming  from  the  bayonets  of  the  Confederate 
troops  as  they  moved  north  to  confront  Sherman,  and  south  to  meet 
Hooker.  It  would  not  do  to  have  the  day  end  with  nothing  accomplished, 
to  have  night  come,  under  cover  of  which  Bragg  could  quietly  withdraw 
from  Missionary  Ridge.  He  did  not  want  Bragg  to  slip  away ;  he  wanted 
to  deal  him  a  staggering  blow  where  he  was. 

Had  we  been  with  General  Grant  in  Fort  Wood  on  that  day  we  should 
have  seen,  east  of  it,  the  divisions  of  Baird,  Sheridan,  Wood,  and  John 
son,  all  facing  towards  Missionary  Ridge — twenty-five  thousand  men — a 
line  two  miles  long.  Between  them  and  the  base  of  the  ridge  is  a  strip  of 
woods,  where  white  jets  spurt  from  the  rifles  of  the  Confederate  skirmish 
ers.  Beyond  the  woods  is  a  plain  reaching  to  the  base  of  the  ridge,  where 
the  Confederates  are  lying  behind  their  first  line  of  breastworks.  The 
ridge  rises  sharp  and  steep.  The  forest-trees  which  a  few  months  before 
covered  its  side  have  been  felled  for  fuel  and  for  the  construction  of  breast 
works.  The  stumps  remain,  and  there  are  many  bowlders  and  brush-heaps, 
together  with  zigzag  paths  from  the  base  to  the  summit,  where  Bragg  has 
his  strong  line  of  works,  with  sixty  cannon,  which  during  the  day  at  times 
have  been  hurling  shells  towards  Chattanooga. 

From  Fort  Wood,  Grant's  heaviest  guns  have  been  firing  over  the 
heads  of  the  men  of  the  Army  of  the  Cumberland,  sending  shells  to  the 
top  of  the  ridge,  three  miles  in  an  air-line  from  the  muzzles  of  the  guns  to 
Bragg' s  headquarters. 

General  Grant  determined  to  order  the  advance  of  the  troops  towards 
the  Confederate  breastworks  at  the  base  of  the  ridge,  as  a  demonstration 
to  relieve  Sherman,  and  to  aid  Hooker. 

It  was  a  little  past  three  o'clock  when  the  order  was  issued.  It  was 
nearly  four  o'clock,  and  no  movement.  General  Grant,  upon  turning 
round,  saw  General  Wood  almost  by  his  side. 

"  Why  have  you  not  advanced  ?"  he  asked. 

"  I  have  received  no  orders  to  advance." 

"  I  issued  an  order  an  hour  ago."(5) 

"  This  is  the  first  I  have  heard  of  it." 

"  Charge  at  once." 

What  a  magnificent  spectacle  it  was  a  few  moments  later!  First 
a  strong  line  of  skirmishers.  Behind  them,  keeping  step  to  the  drum 
beat,  were  the  battalions  in  double  columns,  advancing  with  steady  step, 
as  if  upon  parade.  Bragg  beholds  the  movement.  What  is  the  mean 
ing  of  it  ? 
29 


450  MARCHING   TO   VICTORY. 

Five  minutes  settles  the  uncertainty,  for  the  Union  skirmishers  are 
driving  the  Confederates  from  the  belt  of  timber.  Then  the  crest  of 
Missionary  Ridge  becomes  a  line  of  light  as  sixty  cannon  send  their  mis 
siles  upon  the  Union  troops,  one  shell  killing  or  disabling  thirteen  men  in 
the  Fifth  Kentucky  Kegiment.(6) 

The  soldiers  fighting  for  the  Union  were,  for  the  most  part,  men  who 
could  read  and  write — who  had  been  educated  in  the  public  schools,  who 
had  been  accustomed  to  think  for  themselves.  It  has  been  said  that  they 
carried  "  thinking  bayonets."  Some  of  the  enlisted  men  were  more  com 
petent  to  command  than  the  officers  whose  orders  they  obeyed,  who  had 
secured  their  commissions  by  favor  and  influence. 

Had  we  been  in  the  division  commanded  by  General  Baird  as  it  moved 
towards  the  Confederates,  we  should  have  seen  one  colonel  moving  to 
the  assault  with  his  men  in  "double  column  at  half  distance"  (to  use  the 
proper  military  term),  instead  of  deploying  them  in  line  of  battle.  The 
colonel  was  brave.  He  was  riding  in  front  of  the  centre  division,  paying 
no  attention  to  the  shells  bursting  around  his  line.  But  there  were  men 
in  the  ranks  who  knew  that  it  was  not  a  good  formation,  and  a  sergeant 
shouted,  "  Colonel,  why  don't  you  deploy  the  column  ?"(7)  The  officer  saw 
his  mistake ;  the  column  was  deployed,  and  moved  on  in  line  of  battle. 
"We  shall  see  this  sergeant  again. 

The  advancing  lines  pass  through  the  belt  of  timber  and  emerge  upon 
the  plain  beyond. 

Suddenly  the  Union  troops  break  into  a  run,  rushing  with  a  cheer  tow 
ards  the  Confederates,  who  have  time  to  give  only  one  volley  before  the 
Union  men  are  upon  them — Willich's  brigade,  in  the  centre  of  Wood's  di 
vision,  being  the  first  to  swarm  over  the  breastworks.  Hazen's  brigade  on 
the  right,  and  Beatty's  on  the  left,  are,  a  moment  later,  leaping  the  bar 
rier.  Sheridan  has  a  little  farther  to  go,  but  Wagner's  and  Barker's  bri 
gades  the  next  minute  are  falling  upon  the  astonished  Confederates,  some 
of  whom  throw  down  their  guns  and  surrender  while  others  flee. 

We  come  to  the  most  remarkable  occurrence  of  the  war — an  affair  in 
which  each  soldier  for  the  time  being  was  his  own  commander,  acting  on 
his  own  responsibility.  General  Grant  had  not  ordered  an  assault  upon 
the  ridge,  had  not  contemplated  such  a  movement ;  but  as  he  gazes  upon 
the  scene  he  sees  Willich's  men,  not  halting  in  the  breastworks  at  the  base 
of  the  ridge,  but  following  the  retreating  Confederates  up  its  side.  Their 
enthusiasm  has  kindled  with  the  success  of  the  moment ;  besides,  it  will 
be  safer  higher  up  the  mountain  than  where  they  are.  The  soldiers  in 
stantly  comprehend  that  in  following  the  retreating  Confederates  the  sixty 


LOOKOUT  MOUNTAIN  AND  MISSIONARY  RIDGE.  451 

cannon  cannot  rain  canister  upon  them  without  cutting  down  their  own 
men..  Not  only  Willich's,  but  Hazen's,  Wagner's,  Barker's,  and  Baird's 
troops  rush  up  the  steep  ascent. 

General  Grant  and  General  Thomas  and  the  officers  grouped  around 
them  behold  it  with  astonishment.  Will  they  break  Bragg's  line?  or 
will  they  soon  be  fleeing  down  the  slope,  a  disordered  mass?  It  is  too 
late  to  send  orders  recalling  them.  They  can  only  abide  the  result — 
making  the  best  of  it  if  a  failure,  the  most  of  it  if  they  break  the  Con 
federate  line  at  the  centre. 

The  advancing  troops  do  not  stop  to  load  and  fire.  Men  drop  from 
the  ranks,  cut  down  by  bursting  shells,  but  no  one  falls  out  through  faint 
heartedness.  The  Confederate  cannon  begin  to  belch  canister  upon  them, 
but  on  they  go— half-way — two-thirds  the  way.  They  cannot  run ;  the 
ascent  is  too  steep  for  running.  They  bring  their  bayonets  to  the  charge, 
and  rush  with  a  hurrah  upon  the  breastworks,  Hazen  breaking  over  Keyn- 
olds's  Confederate  brigade,  Willich  piercing  Anderson's.  Barker's  brigade 
on  the  right,  Turchin's  on  the  left,  a  moment  later  are  seizing  the  Con 
federate  cannon,  closing  around  the  astonished  Confederates.  Five  min 
utes,  and  the  Confederates  to  the  right  and  left  of  Bragg's  headquarters 
are  swept  away  as  a  sand-bank  disappears  before  the  sudden  rush  of  swirl 
ing  waters.  The  cannoneers  fire  their  last  charges  into  the  faces  of  Baird's 
division  ;  but  the  next  moment  the  men  in  blue  are  wheeling  the  muzzles 
of  the  guns  eastward  towards  the  mass  of  Confederates  fleeing  down  the 
eastern  slope. 

Corporal  Kraerner,  of  the  Forty-first  Ohio  Volunteers,  rushing  to  one 
of  the  cannon,  with  his  comrades  wheeled  it  round  with  its  muzzle  pointed 
towards  the  fleeing  Confederates,  fired  his  musket  over  the  vent,  thus  dis 
charging  the  cannon,  and  sending  its  missiles  upon  Bragg's  men.(8) 

The  centre  of  Sheridan's  command  was  first  over  the  breastworks  a 
few  rods  south  of  Bragg's  headquarters,  but  almost  at  the  same  instant 
the  Confederate  line  was  pierced  in  six  places.  Bragg  tried  to  rally  his 
panic-stricken  troops,  but  was  himself  borne  away,  as  was  Rosecrans  at 
Chickamauga. 

Some  of  the  Confederates  retreated  north  along  the  ridge  to  join  Har- 
dee,  who,  hearing  the  uproar  and  learning  of  the  disaster,  formed  Cheat- 
ham's  division  to  meet  the  Union  troops. 

General  Bragg  says  :  "  By  a  decided  stand  here  the  enemy  was  en 
tirely  checked,  and  that  portion  of  our  force  to  the  right  remained  intact. 
All  the  left,  however,  except  a  portion  of  Bate's  division,  were  entirely 
routed  and  in  rapid  flight,  nearly  all  the  artillery  having  been  shamefully 


452  MARCHING  TO  VICTORY. 

abandoned  by  its  infantry  support.  Every  effort  which  could  be  made  by 
myself  and  staff  and  by  many  other  mounted  officers  availed  but  little.  A 
panic  which  I  never  before  have  witnessed  seemed  to  have  seized  officers 
and  men,  and  each  seemed  to  be  struggling  for  his  personal  safety,  regard 
less  of  his  duty  or  his  character.  .  .  . 

"  Having  secured  much  of  our  artillery,  they  soon  availed  themselves 
of  our  panic,  and  turning  our  guns  upon  us,  enfiladed  our  lines  both  right 
and  left,  and  rendered  them  untenable."(9) 

A  Union  soldier  in  Baird's  division  thus  pictures  the  scene : 

"  We  made  our  way  across  the  works,  and  were  sweeping  the  intrench- 
ments,  flanking,  and  passing  prisoners  to  the  rear.  To  witness  the  aston 
ishment,  chagrin,  and  disappointment  of  some  of  these  men  on  their  being 
invited  to  surrender  from  such  an  unexpected  quarter  would  have  been 
most  amusing  had  it  not  been  under  such  serious  circumstances.  ...  A 
piece  of  artillery,  full  mounted,  some  three  hundred  feet  to  the  north-east, 
was  making  its  best  time  down  the  eastern  slope.  '  Shoot  the  leaders !' 
yelled  the  same  un military  sergeant  that  had  ordered  the  colonel  to  deploy 
the  column  earlier  in  the  action,  and  half  a  dozen  loyal  rifles  brought 
down  the  leading  team,  which  caused  the  whole  to  roll  into  a  conglomer 
ate  mass  of  men  and  horses,  topped  out  by  a  fine  piece  of  artillery  that 
had  done  its  last  service  for  the  Confederacy."^0) 

Stewart's  division,  confronting  Hooker,  pressed  at  this  moment  by 
Osterhaus,  Geary,  and  Cruft,  broke  in  disorder,  the  Confederates  fleeing 
in  every  direction. 

A  Confederate  soldier  has  given  this  account  of  what  he  saw :  "  The 
Yankees  were  cutting  and  slashing,  and  the  cannoneers  were  running  in 
every  direction.  I  saw  Deas's  brigade  throw  down  their  guns  and  break 
like  quarter-horses.  Bragg  was  trying  to  rally  them.  I  heard  him  say, 
'Here  is  your  commander!'  and  the  soldiers  hallooed  back,  'Here  is  your 
mule !'  The  whole  army  was  routed.  I  ran  on  down  the  ridge,  and 
there  was  one  regiment,  the  First  Tennessee,  with  their  guns  stacked,  and 
drawing  rations  as  if  nothing  was  going  on.  Says  I,  <  Colonel  Field,  the 
whole  army  is  routed  and  running  ;  hadn't  you  better  be  getting  away  from 
here  ?  Turner's  battery  has  surrendered,  Deas's  brigade  has  thrown  down 
their  arms,  and  look  there  ! — that  is  the  Stars  and  Stripes !'  He  remarked, 
very  coolly,  '  You  seem  to  be  demoralized.  We've  whipped  them  here. 
We've  captured  two  thousand  prisoners  and  five  stands  of  colors.'  Just  at 
this  time  General  Bragg  and  staff  rode  up.  Bragg  had  joined  the  Church 
at  Shelbyville,  but  he  had  backslid  at  Missionary  Eidge.  He  was  curs 
ing  like  a  sailor.  Says  he,  '  What's  this  ?  Aha !  have  you  stacked  your 


LOOKOUT   MOUNTAIN   AND  MISSIONARY  RIDGE.  455 

arms  for  a  surrender?'  'K"o,  sir/  says  Field.  'Take  arms!  shoulder 
arms !  by  the  right  flank,  file  right,  march !'  just  as  cool  and  deliberate  as 
if  on  dress-parade.  Bragg  looked  scared.  He  had  put  spurs  to  his  horse, 
and  was  running  like  a  scared  dog  before  Colonel  Field  could  answer  him. 
Every  word  of  this  is  fact.  We  at  once  became  the  rear -guard  of  the 
army.  I  felt  sorry  for  Bragg.  Poor  fellow  !  he  looked  so  whipped,  mor 
tified,  and  chagrined  at  defeat !  And  all  along  the  line,  when  Bragg  would 
pass,  the  soldiers  would  raise  the  yell,  '  Here's  your  mule !'  '  Bully  for 
Bragg!  he's  great  on  retreat !'" (") 

Night  has  come.  The  sun  has  gone  down  behind  Walden's  Ridge,  its 
departing  rays  falling  upon  the  Stars  and  Stripes  everywhere  waving  on 
Missionary  Ridge,  where  an  hour  before  the  Confederates  had  stood,  mas 
ters  of  the  situation,  as  they  believed  themselves  to  be.  Under  cover  of 
the  gathering  darkness  Hardee  withdraws  from  the  northern  edge  of  the 
ridge,  retreating  across  the  Chickamauga. 

The  battle  was  over.  Bragg  had  met  with  a  crushing  defeat,  losing  forty 
cannon,  seven  thousand  muskets,  six  thousand  one  hundred  men  as  prison 
ers,  besides  the  killed,  wounded,  and  missing.  His  army  was  demoralized. 
Longstreet  could  not  rejoin  him,  and  he  retreated  to  Dalton. 

The  troops  of  General  Grant  followed  the  retreating  army  to  Tunnel 
Hill.  There  were  sharp  engagements  between  Cleburne's  division — the 
rear-guard  of  Bragg's  troops— and  the  pursuing  Union  brigades ;  but  for 
want  of  horses  and  supplies,  General  Grant  could  not  enter  upon  a  new 
campaign  ;  besides,  General  Burnside  was  besieged  by  Longstreet  at  Knox- 
ville,  with  provisions  for  only  a  week  ;  and  unless  relieved,  East  Tennessee 
would  again  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  Confederates.  No  time  was  to  be 
lost.  The  troops  were  recalled  from  Tunnel  Hill,  and  the  corps  com 
manded  by  General  Granger,  and  that  commanded  by  General  Sherman, 
with  the  Eleventh  Corps,  under  General  Howard,  were  ordered  to  hasten 
to  the  relief  of  General  Burnside. 


NOTES  TO  CHAPTER  XXII. 

1 l)  Bragg's  Orders  to  Longstreet. 

( 2)  Grant's  Despatches. 

( 3)  Grant,"  Personal  Memoirs,"  vol.  ii.,  p.  61. 
(  4)  Idem,  p.  42. 

( 6)  Idem,  p.  79. 

( 6)  W.  B.  Hazen,  "Narrative  of  Military  Service,"  p.  174. 

(  7)  H.  Allspaugh,  Thirty-first  Ohio  Regiment,  National  Tribune,  June  2.  1887. 

( 8)  W.  B.  Hazeu,  "  Narrative  of  Military  Service,"  p.  177. 

( 9)  General  Bragg's  Report. 

(10)  H.  Allspaugh,  National  Tribune,  June  2, 1887. 

(")  Walking's  "History  of  First  Tennessee  Regiment, "p.  104. 


456  MARCHING  TO  VICTORY. 


CHAPTER   XXIII. 

DEFENCE     OF    KNOXVILLE. 

WE  have  seen  General  Longstreet  leaving  Chattanooga  to  regain  East 
Tennessee  to  the  Confederacy,  and  reopen  the  railroad  to  Virginia. 
He  had  twenty-four  thousand  men  and  eighty  cannon,  but  his  supply  of 
food  was  so  scant  that  he  was  obliged  to  send  out  his  wagons  to  gather 
grain  from  the  farmers'  wheat-stacks,  which  the  soldiers  threshed,  and  which 
was  ground  in  the  mills  along  the  route — thus  subsisting  his  army  in  part 
till  his  supply-trains  arrived. 

The  Union  troops  under  General  Burnside,  in  East  Tennessee,  were 
encamped  in  several  places,  that  forage  and  food  might  be  obtained  instead 
of  transporting  supplies  over  the  mountains  from  Kentucky.  The  Ninth 
Corps  was  thirty  miles  west  of  Knoxville,  at  Lenoir's,  where  there  were  two 
grist-mills.  Other  troops  were  at  Knoxville  and  Cumberland  Gap. 

General  Longstreet  laid  his  plan  to  strike  a  blow  before  Burnside 
could  concentrate  his  scattered  divisions.  He  reached  the  Holston  River 
on  November  14th,  and  began  to  construct  his  pontoon-bridge.  Burnside 
had  a  pontoon  across  the  river  opposite  the  town  of  London,  but,  seeing 
what  Longstreet  was  intending  to  do,  took  it  up  and  began  to  move  his 
troops  towards  Knoxville.  The  Confederates  were  marching  on  a  parallel 
road,  hoping  to  reach  Campbell's  Station,  where  the  two  roads  come  to 
gether,  in  advance  of  the  Union  troops,  and  thus  get  between  them  and 
the  other  divisions. 

Rain  was  falling,  and  the  mud  so  deep  that  Burnside's  artillerymen 
were  obliged  to  double  their  teams  to  get  the  cannon  over  miry  places. 
The  Union  wagons  blocked  the  way  of  the  troops,  while  there  was  nothing 
to  obstruct  Longstreet.  Through  the  night  the  six  thousand  men  of  the 
Ninth  Corps  plodded  through  the  mud,  drenched  with  rain.  Daylight 
was  appearing  when  General  Hartranft's  division  reached  Campbell's  Sta 
tion,  filing  into  a  field,  deploying  in  line  of  battle,  to  hold  the  road  over' 
which  they  knew  the  Confederates  were  marching.  Scouts  informed  them 
that  they  were  close  at  hand. 


DEFENCE   OF   KNOXV1LLE.  457 

The  wagon-train  was  hurried  on  towards  Knoxville.  White's  and  Fer- 
rero's  divisions,  which  were  behind  Hartranft's  in  the  inarch,  hastened 
towards  the  station.  A  few  minutes  later  the  muskets  of  the  skirmishers 
were  heard.  Longstreet  formed  his  lines  and  advanced,  but  his  troops 
were  held  in  check  till  the  Union  trains  were  well  on  their  way  towards 
Knoxville,  when  the  Union  troops  also  took  up  their  line  of  march.  Long- 
street  had  been  foiled  in  his  plan.  The  Union  trains  were  safe ;  the  scat 
tered  divisions  were  rapidly  concentrating ;  the  pontoons  were  being  laid 
at  Knoxville,  to  enable  Burriside  to  hold  the  hills  on  the  south  side  of  the 
river,  and  prevent  the  Confederates  from  planting  their  cannon  there  and 
bombarding  the  town.  Soldiers,  loyal  citizens,  negroes — all  were  at  work 
with  pickaxes  and  spades,  constructing  breastworks.  The  loyal  women 
were  baking  bread,  frying  bacon,  caring  for  the  sick  in  the  hospitals.  The 
Union  men  had  suffered  so  much  from  the  Confederates  they  were  de 
termined  that  never  again  should  the  flag  of  the  Confederacy  wave  in 
Knoxville. 

The  town  is  situated  on  a  plateau,  on  the  north  side  of  the  Holston 
River,  which  has  high,  steep  banks.  The  hills  around  are  green  and  beau 
tiful.  North-west  of  the  town  the  plateau  slopes  down  to  a  valley  with  a 
creek  winding  through  it.  General  Burnside's  engineers  built  a  dam  across 
the  stream  and  so  flooded  the  valley.  An  earthwork  was  constructed  on  the 
highest  hill  west  of  the  town,  which  was  named  Fort  Sanders,  in  honor  of 
a  clear-headed,  energetic,  resolute  officer,  General  Sanders,  only  twenty-one 
years  old,  who  had  been  directing  affairs  at  Knoxville,  who  was  imparting 
to  the  troops  his  own  enthusiasm  and  energy,  and  who  was  placed  in  com 
mand  of  the  defences  on  the  hills  on  the  south  side  of  the  river. 

General  McLaws  was  sent  by  Longstreet  up  the  south  side  of  the 
Flolston,  to  capture  the  hills  upon  which  General  Sanders  had  posted 
his  troops.  If  they  could  be  carried,  cannon  could  be  planted  there,  and 
shells  sent  into  the  town,  and  along  the  line  of  defence  which  Burnside 
had  chosen.  McLaws  attempted  it,  but  was  repulsed  with  great  slaughter, 
whereupon  Longstreet  determined  to  begin  a  siege.  lie  would  sit  down 
and  wait  till  Burnside  was  starved  out,  or,  watching  his  opportunity,  would 
rush  upon  the  works.  He  sent  a  party  with  axes  up  the  river  to  fell 
trees,  build  a  great  raft,  and  send  it  down-stream  to  break  the  pontoon- 
bridge;  but  the  Union  troops  picked  up  the  logs,  and  used  them  for  their 
bivouac  iires. 

The  main  body  of  the  Confederates  were  on  the  north  bank  of  the 
river,  in  front  of  Fort  Sanders  and  the  Union  breastworks  which  had  been 
erected  on  College  Hill.  On  the  night  of  November  23d  they  gained  a 


458  MARCHING  TO  VICTORY. 

favorable  position,  but  just  at  daylight  the  Twenty-first  Massachusetts  and 
Forty-eighth  Pennsylvania  regiments  charged  upon  them,  and  regained  all 
that  had  been  lost. 

It  was  disheartening  news  that  reached  Longstreet  three  days  later — 
that  Hooker  had  swept  over  Lookout  Mountain ;  that  Sherman  had  been 
pounding  at  the  northern  end  of  Missionary  Ridge  ;  that  Thomas  had 
rushed  up  the  slopes,  carrying  all  before  him  ;  that  eighty  cannon  had  been 
lost ;  that  the  army  was  retreating  into  Georgia,  and  that  communication 
with  Bragg  had  been  severed  ;  that  Sherman  was  marching  to  relieve  Burn- 
side  ;  that  he  must  take  care  of  himself. 

Longstreet  saw  that  one  of  two  things  must  be  done,  that  he  must 
act  at  once,  or  Sherman  would  be  falling  upon  him :  he  must  assault  the 
Union  fortifications  —  carry  them  at  the  point  of  the  bayonet,  or  make 
his  way  eastward  towards  Virginia  without  a  battle,  which  would  be 
humiliating  to  his  pride.  If  he  could  carry  the  intrenchments,  gain 
Knoxville,  defeat  Burnside,  before  Sherman  arrived,  it  would  in  some 
measure  redeem  what  Bragg  had  lost.  If  he  were  to  fail  in  the  attempt,  he 
could  then  make  his  way  to  Virginia.  He  determined  to  make  the  assault. 

We  come  to  November  29th.  The  key  to  Burnside's  position  was  Fort 
Sanders.  If  that  could  be  gained,  the  Union  troops  would  be  compelled 
to  abandon  Knoxville,  and  they  would  have  no  way  of  retreat  except  north 
ward,  over  mountain  roads,  where  they  could  obtain  no  subsistence.  Gen 
eral  Longstreet  did  not  know  just  what  his  troops  would  encounter  in  the 
way  of  obstructions.  He  probably  knew  that  there  was  an  abatis  of  fallen 
trees,  with  their  branches  interlocked,  in  front  of  Fort  Sanders,  but  did 
not  know  that  lines  of  telegraph-wire  had  been  stretched  from  stump  to 
stump,  to  trip  his  men  in  their  rush  up  the  hill-side. 

Daylight  was  the  hour  chosen  for  the  assault,  to  be  made  by  three 
brigades. 

There  are  only  two  regiments  in  the  fort  —  the  Seventy-ninth  New 
York  and  the  Seventeenth  Michigan.  Up  to  the  line  of  telegraph-wire, 
which  trips  them  up,  rush  the  Confederates ;  others  go  down  before  the 
fire  from  the  fort;  but  the  men  pull  the  wires  from  the  fastenings  and 
rush  on  up  to  the  abatis,  the  pioneers  hewing  their  way  with  axes  through 
the  trees.  They  reach  the  ditch,  with  canister  sweeping  them  down,  and 
climb  the  parapet,  only  to  be  shot  down  upon  the  embankment. 

Sergeant  Frank  Judge,  of  the  Seventy- ninth  New  York,  seizes  the 
foremost  Confederate  by  the  collar  and  drags  him  into  the  fort  a  prisoner. 
Grenades  have  been  piled  along  the  parapet,  which  the  soldiers  touch  off 
and  toss  into  the  ditch.  Lieutenant  Benjamin  lights  the  fuses  of  the  shells 


DEFENCE  OF  KNOXVILLE. 


459 


and  rolls  them  down  the  parapet.  Then  come  explosions  and  terrible 
slaughter.  Two  howitzers  in  the  bastion  at  the  angle  of  the  fort  sweep 
the  ditch  with  canister. 

The  Confederates,  reinforced  by  the  troops  of  the  second  line,  once 
more  climb  the  parapet.  A  soldier  waves  his  flag  to  cheer  them  on,  but 
he  goes  down,  his  life-blood  pouring  from  a  ghastly  wound.  Men  dash 
out  one  another's  brains  with  the  butts  of  their  muskets.  There  are  sabre- 
strokes,  pistol-shots,  bayonet-thrusts ;  but  the  Confederate  column  has  lost 


ATTACK  OF   LONGSTREET   ON   FORT    SANDERS. 

From  a  sketch  made  at  the  time. 


its  aggressive  force,  and  the  living  quickly  flee.  The  ditch  is  filled  with 
dead  and  dying,  ninety-six  dead  bodies  lying  there  when  the  struggle  is 
One  company  of  the  Twentieth  Michigan  on  the  right,  another  of 


over. 


the  Twenty-ninth  Massachusetts  on  the  left,  leap  over  the  parapet,  and 
bring  in  more  than  two  hundred  prisoners  and  two  flags. 

In  a  very  few  minutes  one  thousand  one  hundred  Confederates  have 
been  killed  or  wounded,  and  three  hundred  captured.  Burnside  has  lost 
only  eight  killed  and  a  few  wounded. 

It  is  a  pitiable  sight — the  ground  strewn  with  men  who  have  fought 


460  MARCHING  TO   VICTORY. 

so  bravely,  and  given  their  lives  to  establish  a  government  founded  on 
human  slavery.  General  Burnside  is  a  humane  man.  He  cannot  endure 
the  spectacle,  and  sends  out  a  flag  of  truce,  offering  to  Longstreet  the  priv 
ilege  of  removing  the  wounded  and  burying  the  dead.  The  offer  is  court 
eously  accepted,  the  Confederate  hospital  corps  appears  upon  the  scene, 
and  before  night  the  slopes  of  Fort  Sanders  bear  little  evidence  of  the 
bloody  conflict  of  the  morning. 

The  attacking  force  was  McLaws's  division.  Burnside  brought  to  the 
assistance  of  the  troops  in  the  fort  five  companies  of  the  Twenty-ninth 
Massachusetts  and  t\v,o  of  the  Twentieth  Michigan  and  a  brigade  of  Has- 
call's  division. 

While  Longstreet  is  being  repulsed  with  such  slaughter,  let  us  go  back 
to  Chattanooga,  or  rather  to  Binggold,  where  the  troops  under  General 
Sherman  have  halted  in  their  pursuit  of  Bragg.  They  were  destroying 
the  railroad,  and  marching  to  Cleveland.  General  Howard  advanced  so 
rapidly  that  he  captured  five  car-loads  of  flour,  the  few  Confederates  there 
retreating  north  across  the  Hiawassee  and  hastening  to  join  Longstreet. 
General  Sherman  did  not  receive  orders  to  hasten  to  Burnside' s  relief  till 
the  evening  of  the  29th(J),  when  a  messenger  came  with  a  letter  from 
General  Grant,  informing  him  that  General  Granger  had  left  Chattanooga 
by  the  river  road,  but  feared  he  would  not  be  able  to  reach  Knoxville  in 
season  to  relieve  Burnside,  and  ordering  him  to  take  command  of  all  the 
troops  and  move  as  rapidly  as  possible. 

The  troops  of  General  Sherman's  corps  had  marched  from  Memphis  to 
Chattanooga,  and  fought  the  battle  of  Missionary  Ridge.  •  They  needed 
clothing,  boots,  blankets,  and  food.  The  nights  were  cold.  They  must 
ford  streams  and  endure  great  hardships,  but  without  a  murmur  they 
started.  Through  the  night  General  Howard's  troops  were  repairing  the 
bridge  which  the  Confederates  had  partially  destroyed,  and  on  the  morn 
ing  of  the  30th  the  divisions  began  their  inarch  towards  Knoxville,  nearly 
ninety  miles  distant. 

General  Longstreet  had  left  General  Vaughn's  brigade  at  Loudon  to 
protect  his  pontoon- bridge  across  the  Tennessee  at  that  point.  General 
Sherman's  cavalry,  on  the  evening  of  the  2d  of  December,  came  suddenly 
upon  the  Confederates,  who  destroyed  the  bridge,  ran  three  locomotives 
and  forty-three  cars  into  the  Tennessee  River,  abandoned  all  their  pro 
visions  and  four  cannon,  and  fled  in  the  night  towards  Knoxville.  The 
Union  troops  helped  themselves  to  the  provisions.  The  cars  and  locomo 
tives  were  a  serious  loss  to  the  Confederates,  for  they  could  not  readily 
be  replaced.  The  loss  of  a  locomotive  to  the  Union  army  was  of  little 


DEFENCE   OF   KNOXVILLE. 

account,  for  all  over  the  North  founderies  and  machine-shops  were 
constructing  engines  to  meet  the  demand. 

General  Sherman  could  not  cross  the  Tennessee  at  Loudon,  and  pushed 
on  to  Morgantown  to  a  ford ;  but  the  river  was  swollen,  and  the  water  too 
deep  to  be  forded.  Houses  were  torn  down,  trees  felled,  a  bridge  con 
structed,  and  at  dark  on  the  evening  of  the  fourth  the  troops  began  to 
cross.  Seven  miles  above  Morgantown,  General  Howard,  having  captured 
a  large  number  of  wagons  from  the  Confederates,  ran  them  into  the  river 
in  a  line  where  the  water  was  shoal,  and  the  troops,  by  stepping  from 
wagon  to  wagon,  crossed  the  stream. (a) 

General  Longstreet  knew  that  the  Union  troops  had  a  scant  supply  of 
provisions.  Although  repulsed  in  the  attack  on  Fort  Sanders,  he  still  re 
mained,  hoping  that  Burnside  would  be  obliged  to  surrender  before  the 
arrival  of  Sherman ;  but  he  could  linger  no  longer,  and  must  begin  his 
march  towards  Virginia.  During  the  night  of  December  5th  the  Confed 
erates  disappeared,  marching  eastward,  followed  by  Burnside  and  Granger. 
There  was  skirmishing  between  Longstreet's  rear -guard  and  Burnside's 
advance;  but  the  Confederates  destroyed  bridges  and  blocked  the  roads 
behind  them.  With  their  departure  the  Confederate  flag  disappeared 
forever  from  East  Tennessee,  which  from  the  beginning  of  the  war  had 
been  loyal  to  the  Union. 

NOTES  TO  CHAPTER  XXIII. 

(!)  "Memoirs  of  General  W.  T.  Sherman,"  vol.  i.,  p.  407. 
(*)  Idem,  p.  409. 


462  MARCHING  TO  VICTORY. 


CHAPTEK  XXIY. 

EVENTS     IN    VIRGINIA. 

r|\EIE  two  great  armies  of  the  east — the  Union  Army  of  the  Potomac, 
J-  under  General  Meade,  arid  the  Confederate  Army  of  Northern  Vir 
ginia,  under  General  Lee — through  August  and  September  were  on  the 
banks  of  the  Rapidan.  We  have  seen  Longstreet,  with  Hood's  and 
McLaws's  divisions  of  Lee's  army,  at  Chickamauga  and  Knoxville,  and  we 
have  also  seen  the  Eleventh  and  Twelfth  corps  of  Meade's  army  trans 
ported  to  the  West,  and  winning  victory  at  Wauhatchie  and  Lookout 
Mountain,  and  turning  Bragg's  flank  on  Missionary  Ridge.  Both  armies 
had  been  made  smaller  by  the  sending  of  those  troops  to  the  West.  The 
term  of  service  of  several  thousand  Union  soldiers  had  expired.  On  the 
Confederate  side  the  remorseless  conscription  had  brought  new  recruits  to 
General  Lee.  No  Confederate  soldier  could  claim  that  his  term  of  service 
had  expired.  The  autocratic  Confederate  Government  did  not  recognize 
any  limit  of  service.  Death  or  maiming  for  life  was  the  only  discharge 
the  Confederate  soldier  could  hope  for. 

Had  we  been  with  the  officers  of  the  Signal  Corps  of  the  Army  of  the 
Potomac  during  September,  we  should  have  seen  them  looking  steadily 
through  their  telescopes  towards  the  Confederate  signal-station  on  the  top 
of  Clark's  Mountain,  near  General  Lee's  headquarters.  By  patient  obser 
vation  they  discovered  the  key  of  the  Confederate  code  of  signals,  and 
read  the  despatches  waved  to  the  different  commanders.  On  the  after 
noon  of  October  7th  they  read  a  message  from  General  Stuart  to  Fitz- 
Hugh  Lee,  commanding  a  division  of  Confederate  cavalry,  to  draw  three 
days'  rations  of  hard-bread  and  bacon,  which  indicated  a  movement  of 
some  kind.Q  General  Meade  was  on  the  alert,  and  learned  that  Confed 
erate  cavalry  and  infantry  were  crossing  the  Upper  Rapidan  on  the  after 
noon  of  the  next  day.  General  Lee  felt  himself  strong  enough  to  attempt 
to  march  round  the  right  flank  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac,  repeating 
the  movement  of  1862  against  Pope.  He  would,  if  possible,  get  between 
Meade  and  Washington,  cut  him  off  from  his  supplies,  defeat  him,  and 
then  cross  the  Potomac  and  menace  the  capital. 


EVENTS  IN  VIRGINIA.  463 

The  provisions  and  supplies  of  the  Union  army  were  sent  to  Alexan 
dria.  Tents  were  packed,  and  on  the  10th  the  Union  troops  were  march 
ing  towards  the  Rappahannock. 

As  the  army  left  Brandy  Station  the  Confederate  cavalry  made  a  sharp 
attack  upon  the  Fifth  Corps,  which  was  guarding  the  rear.  General 
Sykes  and  General  Pleasonton  saw  a  body  of  infantry,  and  came  to  the 
conclusion  that  the  main  part  of  Lee's  army  was  still  near  Culpeper. 
General  Meade  thereupon  ordered  the  army  to  turn  about,  and  the  troops 
accordingly  recrossed  the  Rappahannock  and  marched  back  to  Brandy 
Station. 

On  the  evening  of  the  12th  the  startling  news  came  from  General 
Gregg,  who  was  on  the  Upper  Rappahannock  with  a  division  of  cavalry, 
that  the  whole  of  Lee's  army  was  moving  rapidly  towards  Warrenton, 
just  as  Stonewall  Jackson  had  advanced  twelve  months  before.  At  mid 
night  the  Union  troops  began  the  weary  tramp  back  again  across  the 
Rappahannock.  The  Second  Corps,  temporarily  commanded  by  General 
Warren,  who  had  seen  the  value  of  Little  Round  Top  at  Gettysburg,  was 
the  last  to  leave. 

At  daybreak  on  the  morning  of  the  14rth,  while  the  soldiers  of  Cald- 
well's  division  were  cooking  their  coffee  on  a  hill  near  the  little  hamlet  of 
Auburn,  north  of  Catlett's  Station,  a  shower  of  shells  came  screaming 
through  the  dense  fog  and  exploded  among  them.  They  could  see  noth 
ing,  and  the  shells  had  come  from  where  they  supposed  the  Union  pickets 
to  be. 

General  Stuart,  with  the  cavalry,  during  the  night,  while  pressing 
eagerly  upon  the  rear  of  the  retreating  army,  suddenly  discovered  that  he 
was  between  two  columns  of  Union  troops.  The  fog  screened  him.  He 
allowed  no  talking,  stationed  men  to  keep  the  mules  from  braying,  and 
waited  for  the  Union  troops  to  move  on.  Through  the  night  he  could 
hear  the  wagons  and  cannon  rumbling  past  him.(2)  General  Meade's 
headquarters  were  not  far  away,  and  had  Stuart  known  it  quite  likely  he 
would  have  hazarded  a  rush  for  the  capture  of  the  Union  commander; 
but  he  waited  in  silence  till  he  saw  the  kindling  fires  of  Caldwell's  divis 
ion,  and  then  ordered  his  artillery  to  send  its  volley  of  shells. 

There  was  consternation  in  the  ranks  of  Caldwell's  men,  but  they 
wTere  veterans  who  had  been  in  many  conflicts,  and  quickly  formed  in  line 
of  battle.  Rickett's  battery  wheeled  into  position,  and  the  skirmishers 
of  Hays's  brigade  advanced  against  Stuart,  and  the  cavalry  were  driven. 
Colonel  Ruffin,  of  the  North  Carolina  cavalry,  fell  mortally  wounded, 
Stuart,  seeing  that  a  brigade  would  soon  be  sweeping  towards  him,  Km- 


±64  MARCHING  TO  VICTORY. 

bered  up  his  cannon  and  disappeared  in  the  fog.  Other  Confederate  and 
Union  batteries  opened,  and  there  was  sharp  cannonading ;  but  General 
Ewell,  commanding  the  Confederates,  did  not  wish  to  bring  on  a  battle, 
and  withdrew  his  troops  in  order  to  carry  out  the  movement  planned  by- 
General  Lee,  while  the  Second  Corps  moved  on  towards  Bristoe  Station, 
which  is  between  two  streams — Kettle  Run,  one  and  a  half  miles  south, 
and  Broad  Run,  a  short  distance  north  of  the  station. 

The  head  of  Webb's  division,  with  two  batteries,  in  the  afternoon  was 
marching  along  the  north-west  side  of  the  railroad.  General  Hays's  divis 
ion  was  on  the  south-east  side,  followed  by  Gregg's  cavalry  and  Caldwell's 
division. 

The  Fifth  Corps  was  in  advance  of  the  Second,  and  its  rear  brigade  was 
resting  a  half  mile  north  of  Bristoe,  when  Heth's  division  of  A.  P.  Hill's 
corps  of  Lee's  army  came  through  a  piece  of  woods  north-west  of  the 
station,  and  saw  the  Union  troops.  Poague's  battery  quickly  sent  its  shells 
flying  across  the  field.  The  cannonade  echoed  over  the  hills  and  plains. 
General  Warren  heard  it,  and  galloped  forward.  Brown's  Rhode  Island 
Battery  went  across  Broad  Run,  and  wheeled  into  position.  General 
Webb  had  a  quick  eye,  and  he  saw,  a  few  rods  to  his  right,  the  railroad, 
with  excavations  and  embankments,  and  ordered  his  troops  to  use  it  for 
an  intrenchment  The  First  Minnesota  Regiment,  which  at  sunset  July 
2d,  at  Gettysburg,  made  its  ever  memorable  charge,  was  on  the  skirmish 
line,  and  their  muskets  were  flashing. 

Heth's  Confederate  division,  in  two  lines  of  battle,  was  rapidly  advan 
cing.  "  Tell  General  Hays  to  move  by  the  left  flank,  upon  the  double- 
quick,  to  the  railroad  cut,"(3)  said  Warren  ;  and  the  men,  seeing  how  valua 
ble  a  position  it  was,  went  upon  the  run.  Five  minutes,  and  the  Union  line 
of  battle  was  formed  along  the  railroad,  with  Arnold's  and  Rickett's  bat 
teries  on  hills  in  the  rear,  throwing  their  shells  over  the  troops. 

Two  Confederate  divisions  advanced — Heth's  and  Anderson's — charg 
ing  upon  Mallon's  brigade  of  Webb's  division.  Some  of  the  Confederates 
reached  the  railroad,  but  were  shot  down  by  the  Forty-second  and  Eighty- 
second  New  York.  Other  Confederates  leaped  upon  the  track  in  front  of 
the  Nineteenth  Massachusetts,  but  were  instantly  shot.  With  a  cheer  the 
Union  troops  leaped  over  the  track,  rushed  forward,  and  captured  five  of 
Poague's  cannon,  two  colors,  and  four  hundred  and  sixty  prisoners  from 
Davis's  and  Walker's  brigades.  The  cannon  were  quickly  drawn  across 
the  track,  the  soldiers  leaping  upon  the  guns,  swinging  their  hats  and 
giving  a  cheer.  The  charge  was  so  sudden  that  the  Confederates  had  no 
time  to  bring  up  reinforcements. 


EVENTS   IN   VIRGINIA.  465 

The  Second  Corps  was  confronted  not  only  by  Hill's  corps,  but  the  cav 
alry  scouts  came  riding  in  with  the  information  that  Swell's  corps  was 
close  at  hand.  All  the  other  Union  troops  had  gone  on,  and  General  War 
ren  was  alone.  He  had  met  the  assault  with  only  two  divisions,  but  Cald- 
welFs  arrived,  and  the  line  of  battle  was  extended  ;  yet  he  had  only  eight 
thousand  men  to  hold  in  check  nearly  three  times  their  number  of  Confed 
erates.  Once  more  A.  P.  Hill  advanced,  but  with  caution.  General  Posey, 
commanding  a  brigade,  was  mortally  wounded.  The  Confederate  artillery 
— eight  batteries — opened  fire,  but  the  Union  troops,  sheltered  by  the  rail 
road,  suffered  little.  Swell's  brigades,  as  they  arrived,  deployed  ready  to 
fall  upon  Caldwell's  division,  which  held  the  left  of  Warren's  line ;  but 
the  sun  was  going  down,  and  it  was  too  late  in  the  day  for  the  Confederate 
commander  to  begin  a  general  battle  against  veterans  who  had  exhibited 
their  valor  in  the  battles  of  the  Peninsula,  Antietam,  Fredericksburg, 
Chancellorsville,  and  who  had  rolled  back  Anderson  and  Pickett  from 
Cemetery  Ridge  on  the  field  of  Gettysburg. 

The  Union  troops  welcomed  the  darkness,  for  under  it  they  could  move 
away.  Orders  were  issued  in  whispers,  every  man  laid  his  hand  upon  his 
tin  cup  and  canteen  to  keep  them  from  jingling.  No  fires  were  kindled. 
No  soldier  could  strike  a  match  to  light  his  pipe.  The  artillery  moved 
slowly,  that  no  rumbling  of  the  wheels  might  be  wafted  on  the  night  air 
to  the  ears  of  the  Confederates,  whose  bivouac  fires  lighted  all  the  plain- 
so  near  that  the  Union  pickets  could  hear  the  conversation  of  the  soldiers 
eating  their  supper.  When  the  troops  were  beyond  Broad  Run  silently 
the  pickets  stole  away,  followed  by  the  cavalry. 

The  next  morning  the  Union  army  was  at  Centreville  on  ground  which 
Meade  had  chosen  for  a  defensive  battle.  But  General  Lee  had  no  inten 
tion  of  attacking  the  Union  army  in  such  a  position.  His  plan  had  failed, 
and  in  the  engagement  at  Bristoe  he  had  lost  nearly  thirteen  hundred 
men,  including  three  generals,  also  five  cannon.  The  Union  loss  was  be 
tween  five  and  six  hundred. 

Back  towards  the  Rappahannock  marched  the  Confederate  army.  Gen 
eral  Lee  went  into  camp  at  Culpeper,  with  brigades  guarding  the  fords  of 
the  Rappahannock.  General  Meade  promptly  followed. 

General  Birney,  commanding  the  Third  Corps,  of  Meade's  army,  moved 
to  Kelley's  Ford,  and  placed  his  batteries  on  the  northern  bank.  He  did 
not  wTait  for  the  pontoons,  but  the  troops  dashed  into  the  river,  rushed  upon 
the  Confederates  on  the  south  side,  and  captured  five  hundred  of  them. 
In  the  assault  very  few  Union  soldiers  were  killed  or  wounded.  The  artil- 


466  MARCHING  TO  VICTORY. 

lery  opened  so  destructive  a  fire  that  no  Confederate  brigades  could  go  to 
the  aid  of  those  left  to  guard  the  ford. 

General  Early's  division  of  Ewell's  corps  was  on  the  north  side  of  the 
Rappahannock,  by  the  railroad,  sheltered  in  the  forts  and  behind  breast 
works  which  the  Union  troops  had  erected.  General  Sedgwick,  command 
ing  the  Fifth  and  Sixth  corps,  placed  his  batteries  in  a  favorable  position, 
and  opened  a  terrific  fire.  At  a  signal  Russell's  and  Upton's  brigades  of 
the  Sixth  Corps  went  on  the  run  towards  the  works.  There  was  a  sharp 
engagement,  three  hundred  of  the  Union  troops  going  down ;  but  their 
comrades  rushed  on,  and  captured  fifteen  hundred  prisoners,  four  cannon, 
and  eight  colors,  and  secured  the  passage  of  the  river.  The  troops  crossed 
the  stream,  and  had  General  Meade  attacked  Lee  vigorously  on  the  morn 
ing  of  the  8th  of  November,  the  probabilities  are  that  he  would  have 
won  a  victory ;  for  Lee,  evidently  not  anticipating  the  movement,  had  not 
placed  his  troops  in  advantageous  positions,  and  he  quickly  retreated  across 
the  Rapidan,  while  Meade  once  more  established  his  headquarters  at  Cul- 
peper.  It  had  been  a  campaign  of  marches,  countermarches,  and  sharp 
engagements,  with  the  advantage  to  the  Army  of  the  Potomac. 

The  troops  of  General  Lee  were  stationed  along  the  railroad  from 
Morton's  Ford,  on  the  Rapidan,  to  Charlottesville.  The  fords  eastward 
were  not  guarded.  Mine  Run  is  a  little  stream  which  rises  amid  the 
hills  east  of  Orange  Court-house  and  trickles  north  to  the  Rapidan.  Its 
banks  are  so  steep,  and  the  country  so  much  of  a  wilderness,  that  General 
Lee  did  not  think  it  necessary  to  build  intrenchments  or  place  troops 
in  that  direction  to  guard  his  flank.  The  Union  scouts  informed  General 
Meade  of  the  position  of  the  Confederate  army,  and  he  planned  a  move 
ment  to  cross  the  river,  move  up  Mine  Run,  and  get  between  Ewell's  and 
Hill's  corps.  The  movement  was  made,  but  there  were  so  many  delays 
that  Lee  was  able  to  throw  up  strong  intrenchments  before  Meade  was 
ready  to  attack ;  and  instead  of  fighting  a  battle  at  such  disadvantage,  the 
troops  were  withdrawn,  and  came  back  to  Culpeper  to  build  huts  and 
prepare  for  winter  quarters. 

During  the  two  years  of  the  war  the  Union  commanders  had  learned 
what  the  Confederate  commander  had  understood  from  the  beginning — 
the  value  of  mounted  troops  moving  in  compact  bodies.  The  cavalry  of 
both  armies,  during  1863,  had  made  raids  in  rear  of  opposing  forces  to 
burn  bridges  on  railroads,  tear  up  the  tracks,  and  destroy  supplies.  On 
both  sides  there  had  been  successful  as  well  as  unsuccessful  expeditions. 

The  great  opposing  armies — east  and  west — were  settling  down  into 
Winter  quarters ;  Meade  and  Lee  on  the  banks  of  the  Rapidan  ;  Grant 


EVENTS  IN  VIRGINIA.  467 

at  Chattanooga ;  Bragg,  superseded  by  Johnston,  at  Dalton,  in  Northern 
Georgia ;  Burnside  and  Longstreet  in  Eastern  Tennessee.  While  the  sol 
diers  of  the  Union  and  Confederate  armies  were  building  their  huts  for 
the  winter,  a  body  of  Union  cavalry  in  West  Virginia  made  a  march 
which,  for  strategic  movement,  energetic  action,  hardship,  suffering,  en 
durance,  and  success,  was  not  surpassed  during  the  four  years'  conflict. 

A  part  of  General  Lee's  army  was  at  Gordonsville,  and  part  at  Charlottes- 
ville,  whence  a  railroad  runs  west  to  Staunton,  in  the  Shenandoah  Valley, 
and  thence  westward  to  Covington.  From  Charlottesville  another  railroad 
runs  south  to  Lynchburg,  where  it  connects  with  the  road  leading  from 
Eichmond  to  Tennessee — all  through  rich  and  fertile  valleys,  which  sup 
plied  the  Confederate  army  with  flour  and  bacon.  The  commissary-general 
had  accumulated  a  large  quantity  of  food  at  Staunton  and  also  at  Salem, 
sixty  miles  west  of  Lynchburg.  General  Halleck  thought  that  if  one  of 
the  Confederate  depots  of  supplies  could  be  destroyed  it  would  greatly 
cripple  the  Confederate  army.  Staunton  was  so  near  to  General  Lee's 
main  army,  and  there  were  so  many  Confederate  cavalry  in  the  Shenan 
doah  Valley,  no  movement  could  be  made  in  that  direction.  Could  Salem 
be  reached  ?  General  Kelly,  who  was  commanding  the  troops  in  West 
Virginia,  and  who  was  better  acquainted  with  the  country  than  any  other 
Union  commander,  was  called  to  Washington  and  consulted,  and  discre 
tionary  orders  were  given  him  to  do  what  he  thought  was  best.  He  ac 
cordingly  placed  the  matter  in  the  hands  of  General  Averill,  who  had 
shown  excellent  abilities  as  a  cavalry  commander.  His  division  was  at 
New  Creek,  a  few  miles  west  of  Cumberland,  on  the  Baltimore  and 
Ohio  Eailroad,  while  Salem  was  two  hundred  miles  south.  Would  it  be 
possible,  with  winter  setting  in,  with  snow  upon  the  summits  of  the  Alle- 
ghanies,  with  rivers  swollen  by  rain,  to  send  a  body  of  men  that  distance 
over  mountain  roads,  past  a  watchful  foe,  through  a  country  where  a  large 
portion  of  the  people  were  supporters  of  the  Confederacy,  with  any  chance 
for  their  return  ?  Five  separate  bodies  of  Confederate  cavalry,  either  of 
them  of  sufficient  strength  to  confront  the  troops  which  Averill  would 
have,  must  be  eluded  by  strategy  and  rapid  marching.  Besides,  General 
Lee,  by  using  the  railroad,  could  send  a  division  of  infantry  to  Salem  at 
short  notice,  or  Longstreet  could  move  a  portion  of  his  command  from 
Tennessee  by  rail.  Seemingly  there  was  little  prospect  of  executing  such 
a  movement  with  any  hope  of  success. 

General  Averill,  after  studying  the  situation  of  the  various  Confederate 
forces,  resolved  to  enter  upon  the  undertaking.  General  Scammon,  who 
was  in  the  Kanawha  Valley,  was  directed  to  move  eastward  to  the  town 


4:68  MARCHING  TO   VICTORY. 

of  Lewisburg,  in  the  direction  of  Staunton.  At  the  same  time,  General 
Moor,  who  was  at  Beverly,  was  directed  to  march  towards  Staunton,  and 
Colonel  Wells,  who  was  at  Harper's  Ferry,  was  sent  up  the  Shenandoah 
Valley.  These  different  bodies  moving  simultaneously  with  Averill,  led 
the  Confederates  to  think  that  Staunton  was  their  common  objective 
point.-  „ 

General  Averill  was  well  acquainted  with  the  country,  for  he  had  been 
nearly  to  Salem  in  November.  He  knew  that  General  Imboden,  with 
one  thousand  five  hundred  troops,  was  near  Harrisonburg,  twenty  miles 
north  of  Staunton  ;  that  General  Echols  was  west  of  the  town,  with  anoth 
er  large  force;  that  General  Jones  was  somewhere  in  the  vicinity,  with 
another  brigade.  The  troops  selected  for  the  movement  mustered  one 
thousand  five  hundred,  and  had  six  cannon.  They  left  New  Creek  the 
first  week  in  December,  and  moved  south  to  the  little  village  of  Peters 
burg.  A  young  lady,  Miss  Sallie  Cunningham,  who  was  ardently  devoted 
to  the  Confederate  cause,  lived  at  Moorfield,  and  was  visiting  friends  at 
Petersburg.  She  galloped  home  as  fast  as  her  horse  would  carry  her,  wrote 
a  note,  and  sent  it  by  a  messenger  to  General  Imboden,  informing  him  of 
the  movement  of  the  Union  troops,  and  said  that  there  were  six  thou 
sand  of  them.  Imboden  concluded  that  Averill  was  intending  to  strike 
Staunton.  The  information  was  telegraphed  to  General  Lee  at  Gordons- 
ville,  who  sent  General  Early  to  Staunton  to  take  command,  and  directed 
Fitz-Hugh  Lee  to  hasten  there  with  his  division  of  cavalry. 

General  Averill  detached  Thoburn's  brigade  and  sent  it  towards  Staun 
ton,  while  he  himself  moved  rapidly  south  with  his  selected  troops,  and 
was  far  on  his  way  towards  Salem  before  the  Confederates  comprehended 
his  design.  The  weather  became  suddenly  cold,  the  mercury  sinking  to 
zero,  rain,  sleet,  and  snow  falling,  the  wind  blowing  a  gale ;  but  on,  day 
and  night,  moved  the  cavalcade,  with  brief  halts  for  rest.  General  Averill 
had  taken  few  supplies,  trusting  that  he  could  obtain  hay  and  grain,  but 
the  horses  had  scant  fare.  They  ascended  steep  mountains,  over  almost 
impassable  roads.  It  was  in  the  evening  when  they  came  to  a  house  where 
there  was  a  wedding.  The  building  was  surrounded,  and  several  of  the 
guests  who  were  in  Confederate  uniforms  were  greatly  surprised  to  find 
themselves  prisoners.  A  bountiful  supper  had  been  prepared,  which  the 
Union  soldiers  ate,  and  not  the  wedding-guests.  The  bridegroom,  being  a 
Confederate  soldier,  was  taken  prisoner,  whereupon  the  bride,  with  true 
allegiance  and  loyal  love,  determined  to  keep  him  company,  and  marched 
by  his  side  to  Salem,  where  General  Averill  released  him,  which  made 
the  bride  very  happy. 


EVENTS   IN   VIRGINIA. 


±69 


AVERILT/S   TROOP    IN    A    STORM. 


On  the  16th  of  December  the  division  reached  Salem,  having  marched 
two  hundred  miles.  General  Averill  found  two  thousand  barrels  of  flour, 
ten  thousand  bushels  of  wheat,  one  hundred  thousand  bushels  of  shelled 
corn  and  oats,  with  a  great  quantity  of  meat,  salt,  clothing,  shoes,  and  other 
articles.  The  soldiers  helped  themselves  to  whatever  they  most  needed ; 
the  negroes  and  poor  people  were  allowed  to  help  themselves  to  flour  and 
bacon,  and  the  rest  was  burned.  All  the  buildings  containing  Confederate 


470  MARCHING  TO  VICTORY. 

stores  were  destroyed,  but  General  Averill  prohibited  all  pillaging,  and 
his  discipline  was  very  strict. 

Most  of  the  people  of  Salem  were  heart  and  soul  with  the  Confederacy 
and  kept  aloof  from  the  troops,  but  a  woman  with  a  pale  face  came  to 
Captain  Ewing,  commanding  the  artillery,  and  asked  if  she  might  take  the 
flag  of  the  battery  a  moment.  The  sergeant  placed  the  Stars  and  Stripes 
in  her  hands.  This  Captain  Swing's  account :  "  I  can  never  ,forget  her 
look,  as  she  eagerly  and  passionately  folded  it  to  her  bosom",  as  a  mother 
would  her  long- lost  child  when  restored  to  her  arms.  For  several  minutes 
she  remained  sobbing  aloud,  and  at  last  when  she  gave  it  back,  it  was  with 
bright  smiles  through  tears  of  real  joy  and  gladness. "(4) 

The  railroad  track  was  torn  up  and  the  telegraph  destroyed,  and  the 
object  of  the  movement  had  been  accomplished.  The  return  was  one  of 
terrible  hardship  and  suffering,  toiling  over  unfrequented  roads,  ascending 
mountains  by  zigzag  routes,  pulling  the  cannon  up  by  ropes,  fording  rivers 
filled  with  floating  ice,  or  wading  through  mountain  torrents.  Guerillas 
and  small  bodies  of  Confederate  «avalry  were  hovering  on  his  flank,  assail 
ing  his  rear,  or  gathering  in  front.  The  troops  could  not  stop  to  build 
fires  to  dry  their  clothes,  which  turned  to  icy  coats  of  mail.  There  could 
be  only  short  halts.  They  reached  Greenbrier  River,  which  was  filled  with 
floating  ice — huge  cakes  swiftly  sweeping  past.  It  seemed  impossible  to 
cross  it,  but  the  order  was  imperative,  and  then  came  the  plunge  of  the 
horses,  the  struggle  in  the  current.  The  whole  command  finally  reached 
the  western  shore,  and  was  in  a  position  where,  at  last,  they  could  rest,  for 
two  routes  were  open  to  them — one  northward  to  Beverly,  the  other  west 
down  the  Great  Kanawha. 

The  Confederates  had  been  foiled  in  all  their  efforts  to  cut  them  off, 
and  on  Christmas-day,  weary  and  worn,  haggard  for  want  of  sleep  and  rest, 
the  column  entered  Beverly,  where  a  full  supply  of  food  awaited  them.  No 
Christmas  feast  of  roast  beef  and  plum- pudding,  cake  and  wine,  could  com 
pare  with  the  bacon,  hard-bread,  and  coffee  which  the  soldiers  of  Averill's 
command  ate  and  drank  on  that  Christmas  evening,  sheltered  at  last  in  their 
tents  from  the  howling  storm  and  the  bitter  cold  amid  the  Alleghanies. 


NOTES  TO  CHAPTER  XXIV. 

(')  Walker, "  History  of  the  Second  Army  Corps,"  p.  321. 
(9)  McClellan's  "  Campaign  of  Stuart's  Cavalry,"  p.  303. 

(3)  Walker, "  History  of  the  Second  Army  Corps,"  p.  349. 

(4)  Capt.  J.  M.  Rife, "Averill's  Raid,"  in  National  Tribune, 


CLOSE  OF  THE  YEAR  1863.  471 


CHAPTER  XXV. 

CLOSE  OF  THE  YEAR  1863. 

THE  Southern  States  had  seceded  from  the  Union  to  maintain  the 
"  Rights  of  the  States ;"  but  if  a  State  could  sever  its  relations  with 
the  Union  for  any  cause,  why  might  not  a  county  secede  from  a  State? 
The  people  of  Jones  County,  in  Mississippi,  began  to  discuss  the  question 
in  the  summer  of  1862.  The  county  is  in  the  south-eastern  part  of  the 
State,  seventy-five  miles  from  Mobile,  and  comprises  nearly  twenty  town 
ships.  The  land  is  not  fertile,  the  entire  region  being  made  up  of  pine- 
barren  and  swamps,  traversed  by  winding  creeks  bordered  by  almost  im 
penetrable  thickets.  The  streams  trend  southward,  and  find  outlet  in 
Pascagoula  Bay. 

In  1860  the  inhabitants  numbered  3323 — the  white  male  population 
being  1492.  They  were  lumbermen,  who  earned  a  living  by  cutting  the 
tall  pine-trees  and  rafting  the  lumber  to  tide- water,  or  gathered  tar  and 
turpentine.  They  were  opposed  to  the  war,  and  when  the  Confederate 
Congress  passed  the  act  of  conscription,  which  would  compel  those  liable 
to  do  military  duty  to  serve  in  the  army,  they  determined  to  secede  from 
Mississippi  and  set  up  a  government  of  their  own.  They  assembled  in 
convention  at  the  county  court-house,  in  Eliisville,  and  passed  an  ordi 
nance  of  secession,  which  reads  as  follows : 

' '  Whereas,  the  State  of  Mississippi  has  seen  fit  to  withdraw  from  the  Federal  Union 
for  reasons  which  appear  justifiable ; 

"And  whereas  we,  the  citizens  of  Jones  County,  claim  the  same  right,  thinking  our 
grievances  are  sufficient  by  reason  of  an  unjust  law  passed  by  the  Congress  of  the  Confed 
erate  States  of  America,  forcing  us  to  go  to  distant  parts,  etc. ,  etc. 

"Therefore,  be  it  resolved,  that  we  sever  the  union  heretofore  existing  between  Jones 
County  and  the  State  of  Mississippi,  and  proclaim  our  independence  of  the  said  State,  and 
of  the  Confederate  States  of  America;  and  we  solemnly  call  upon  Almighty  God  to  wit 
ness  and  bless  this  act." 

This  occurred  in  Jefferson  Davis's  own  State.  Nathan  Knight  was 
elected  President  of  the  "Jones  County  Confederacy. "Q  He  had  little 


472  MARCHING  TO  VICTORY. 

education,  but  much  common-sense.  The  people  had  confidence  in  him, 
for  he  was  honest,  brave,  energetic,  and  resolute.  Members  of  Congress 
and  Senators  were  elected  and  laws  passed,  which  were  written  out  and 
posted  on  the  trees  along  the  roads,  for  there  was  not  a  printing-press  in 
the  county.  The  population  increased  very  rapidly.  Men  who  wanted  to 
escape  the  conscription  fled  to  Jones  County,  which  had  thus  thrown  off 
its  allegiance  to  Mississippi  and  the  Confederacy.  Union  men  flocked 
thither  to  find  refuge  from  persecution  amid  its  swamps.  Deserters  from 
the  army,  who  were  tired  of  fighting,  made  their  way  to  Ellisville  with 
their  muskets,  to  become  citizens  and  soldiers  of  the  "  Jones  County  Con 
federacy,"  as  the  new  government  was  styled.  In  a  short  time  the  pop 
ulation  increased,  it  is  said,  to  twenty  thousand. (2) 

Some  of  the  people  of  the  county  were  Confederates.  The  Confed 
erate  Government  had  passed  laws  against  aliens,  and  had  confiscated  the 
property  of  Northern  people.  President  Jefferson  Davis  had  issued  a  proc 
lamation  in  regard  to  aliens,  and  President  Knight  accordingly  issued  his 
proclamation  requiring  all  aliens  to  leave  the  county.  Some  who  did 
not  go  were  shot  and  their  buildings  burned.  An  army  was  organized, 
and  all  men  between  the  ages  of  eighteen  and  forty-five  enrolled.  No 
Confederate  conscription  officer  dared  to  venture  into  President  Knight's 
dominion.  Provisions  were  needed,  and  the  soldiers  of  the  Jones  County 
Confederacy  made  a  raid  upon  the  surrounding  counties  of  the  Southern 
Confederacy,  and  returned  with  a  herd  of  cattle  and  pigs ;  and  a  train  of 
wagons  loaded  with  supplies  for  the  Confederate  army  was  captured. 

The  State  of  Mississippi,  with  its  authority  thus  set  at  defiance,  sent 
General  Lowery  with  a  force  to  crush  out  the  government  of  President 
Knight,  which  met  with  a  stubborn  resistance.  The  seceders  retreated  to 
the  swamps,  and  maintained  their  defiant  attitude  to  the  end  of  the  war. 
Secession  for  the  maintenance  of  State  rights  had  its  legitimate  and  natu 
ral  outcome  in  the  action  of  the  people  of  Jones  County.  No  doubt  this 
secession  of  a  county  from  his  own  State  was  a  great  mortification  to  the 
President  of  the  Southern  Confederacy. 

The  year  1863  was  closing.  Far  different  the  outlook  on  the  last  day 
of  December  from  what  it  was  on  the  morning  of  January  first,  when  the 
cannon  were  thundering  in  the  undecided  battle  of  Stone  River.  In  the 
opening  chapter  of  this  volume  we  saw  that  to  the  people  of  the  Union 
it  was  a  day  of  uncertainty  and  gloom ;  but  with  the  victories  of  the  year 
the  despondency  and  doubt  had  disappeared,  and  they  looked  forward  to 
a  radiant  future,  with  deepening  convictions  of  the  ultimate  restoration  of 
the  Union  and  the  wiping  out  of  slavery,  which  had  brought  about  the  war. 


CLOSE   OF  THE   YEAR   1863.  473 

With  the  opening  of  the  year  the  people  of  the  South  had  anticipated 
a  recognition  of  the  Confederacy  by  England  and  France,  its  permanent 
establishment  among  the  nations  of  the  earth,  and  a  speedy  ending  of  the 
conflict.  But  the  year  had  been  one  of  disaster.  There  had  been  only 
the  victories  at.  Chancellorsville  and  Chickamauga — both  barren  of  advan 
tageous  results  to  the  Confederate  cause. 

The  close  of  the  year  saw  the  Confederate  Army  of  the  West  driven 
from  Tennessee.  The  States  west  of  the  Mississippi  were  severed  from 
the  Confederacy  and  could  render  it  no  aid.  Louisiana  was  lost.  Jeffer 
son  Davis's  own  State  had  been  ravaged  by  the  armies  of  the  Union,  and 
its  railroads  destroyed.  Once  more  the  steamboats  of  the  Mississippi  were 
furrowing  its  waters  from  New  Orleans  to  St.  Louis,  and  the  Confederate 
Government  was  powerless  to  prevent  the  increasing  tide  of  commerce. 
Fort  Sn niter,  the  pride  and  glory  of  the  Confederacy,  though  still  occu 
pied  by  a  few  Confederate  troops,  was  a  shapeless  ruin,  all  its  cannon 
silent,  dismounted,  and  buried  beneath  its  crumbled  walls.  From  Morris 
Island,  day  and  night,  bomb -shells  were  sailing  high  in  air  across  the 
waters  of  the  bay,  and  exploding  in  Charleston.  Weeds  and  grass  were 
growing  in  streets  where  at  the  beginning  of  the  year  the  drayman  drove 
his  rumbling  team  and  the  merchant  bargained  his  goods.  No  longer 
the  gathering  of  congregations  in  St.  Philip's  or  St.  Michael's  on  Sunday 
morning;  no  more  the  sale  of  slaves  in  the  mart  within  a  stone's-throw 
of  the  hall  where  the  ordinance  for  the  secession  of  the  State  had  been 
passed  in  1861.  Dwellings,  stores,  churches,  slave-mart  —  all  were  aban 
doned.  Very  little  sleep  was  there  for  the  inhabitants  through  the  night 
preceding  Christmas.  This  the  account  from  a  Charleston  newspaper: 

"  At  1  o'clock  A.M.  the  enemy  opened  fire.  Fast  and  furiously  were 
the  shells  rained  upon  the  city  from  five  guns,  three  at  Battery  Gregg,  one 
from  Curnming's  Point,  and  one  from  the  mortar  battery.  The  shelling 
was  more  severe  than  upon  former  occasions,  the  enemy  generally  throw 
ing  from  three  to  five  shells  simultaneously.  Our  batteries  promptly  re 
plied,  but  without  their  usual  effect  in  checking  the  bombardment,  which 
was  steadily  maintained  by  the  Yankees  during  the  remainder  of  the  night 
and  all  the  following  morning  till  half-past  twelve  o'clock.  Up  to  that 
hour  one  hundred  and  thirty-four  shells  had  been  hurled  into  the  city.  .  .  . 
Several  houses  were  struck.  One  aged  man  and  a  woman  were  wounded 
by  the  exploding  shells'." (8) 

Charleston  and  Wilmington  were  the  only  seaports  where  communi 
cation  could  be  had  with  the  outside  world  by  the  swift-sailing  steamers 
built  in  England  especially  to  ply  between  those  ports  and  the  Bermudas 


474:  MARCHING  TO  VICTORY. 

—lying  low  in  the  water,  leaden-colored,  entering  and  departing  at  night, 
some  of  them  captured,  others  eluding  the  blockading  fleets  in  the 
darkness. 

The  Army  of  Northern  Virginia  had  been  discomfited  at  Gettysburg 
with  frightful  losses.  No  more  the  confident  belief  that  the  flag  of  the 
Confederacy  would  ever  wave  above  the  dome  of  the  Capitol  in  Wash 
ington  ;  no  more  the  sanguine  expectation  of  July,  that  the  invasion  of 
Pennsylvania  would  bring  about  action  by  the  British  Parliament  favor 
able  to  the  Confederacy.  On  the  contrary,  the  iron-clad  war-ships  which 
had  been  constructed  for  the  Confederate  Government,  and  which  were 
ready  for  sea,  were  jealously  guarded  and  prevented  from  sailing  by  the 
frigates  of  Great  Britain's  navy. 

In  January  the  newspapers  of  Richmond  and  Charleston  were  profuse 
in  their  utterances  of  friendship  for  England,  but  in  December  they  were 
full  of  words  of  resentment,  contumely,  and  disparagement.  There  was  still 
expectation  that  Louis  Napoleon,  Emperor  of  France,  having  entered  upon 
the  establishment  of  a  monarchy  in  Mexico,  with  the  French  army  in  pos 
session  of  the  capital,  and  Maximilian,  Archduke  of  Austria,  preparing  to 
cross  the  Atlantic  and  become  emperor,  would  ally  himself  with  the  Con 
federacy.  With  his  permission  formidable  iron-clad  vessels  of  war  were 
being  constructed  in  the  seaports  of  France  for  the  Confederacy,  which  in 
due  time,  it  was  expected,  would  appear  at  Charleston  and  Wilmington, 
and  send  the  blockading  fleets  to  the  bottom  of  the  sea,  and  open  those 
ports  to  the  commerce  of  the  world.  This  the  one  bright  hope  animating 
the  Confederate  Government. 

Far-seeing  men  who  had  favored  secession,  who  had  fought  resolutely 
for  the  Confederacy,  began  to  see  that  its  power  was  waning.  Thousands 
of  Confederate  soldiers  saw  it.  These  the  words  of  a  Confederate  soldier 
to  the  author : 

"  When  Grant  whirled  Bragg  from  Missionary  Eidge,  I  saw  that  the 
Government  was  up."  Many  of  his  comrades  were  as  clear-sighted  as  him 
self,  and  quietly  stole  away  from  their  regiments,  and  were  reported  as  de 
serters.  They  returned  to  their  homes  or  secreted  themselves,  not  solely 
because  they  saw  what  the  end  would  be,  but  because  they  felt  that  they 
had  been  outraged  by  the  Confederate  Government.  They  had  enlisted 
for  a  year,  but  the  Congress  at  Richmond  had  disregarded  its  solemn  ob 
ligation,  and  was  compelling  them  to  serve  to  the  end  of  the  war. 

The  Confederate  Government  had  become  a  despotism.  On  April  16, 
1862,  a  law  was  passed  which  provided  that  persons  "  not  liable  to  do  mili 
tary  duty  may  be  received  as  substitutes  for  those  who  are."  Jefferson 


CLOSE  OF  THE  YEAR  1863.  475 

Davis  sent  a  message  to  Congress  asking  for  the  repeal  of  that  law.  Con 
gress  complied  ;  and  during  the  last  week  of  December,  1863,  an  act  was 
passed  abrogating  and  annulling  the  former  act,  under  which  many  citizens 
had  sent  substitutes  into  the  army.  The  new  law  provided  that  no  person 
liable  to  do  military  duty  should  be  exempted  by  the  employment  of  a  sub 
stitute.  Citizens  who  felt  themselves  outraged  by  such  a  proposed  breach 
of  good  faith  on  the  part  of  the  Government  employed  a  very  able  law 
yer,  John  H.  Gilmer,  to  plead  with  the  members  of  Congress  against  the 
violation  of  good  faith.  He  contended  that  the  new  law  was  unconsti 
tutional.^) 

The  men  who  had  joined  in  a  conspiracy  to, overthrow  the  government 
of  the  people  and  establish  a  slave  oligarchy,  who  had  filled  the  jails  of 
Georgia  and  Alabama  with  citizens  of  Tennessee,  whose  only  crime  was 
their  love  for  the  Stars  and  Stripes,  did  not  hesitate  to  violate  its  faith 
with  its  own  citizens.  The  enactment  of  the  law  aroused  resentment  and 
increased  the  rising  disaffection  against  Jefferson  Davis. 

The  forty-two  persons  who  assembled  at  Montgomery  and  formed  the 
Confederacy  in  February,  1861,  established  it  on  slavery.  Alexander  H. 
Stephens  had  announced  to  the  world  that  slavery  was  its  corner-stone. 
That  which  the  people  of  South  Carolina  and  the  cotton-growing  States 
believed  would  be  enduring,  arid  which  would  make  the  Confederacy  pow 
erful  among  the  nations,  was  rapidly  crumbling.  Wherever  the  Union 
armies  marched  the  slaves  disappeared.  Probably  there  were  few  slaves  in 
the  Confederacy  who  had  not  heard  of  the  proclamation  of  Abraham  Lin 
coln  giving  them  their  freedom.  The  news  travelled  fast  from  cabin  to 
cabin,  that  men  who  had  been  slaves  were  marshalled  beneath  the  Stars 
and  Stripes  and  had  attained  the  dignity  of  manhood  at  Fort  Wagner  by 
their  intrepid  conduct. 

The  representatives  of  the  Confederacy  in  England  found  that  while 
the  aristocracy  of  that  country  were  anxious  to  see  the  United  States 
divided  and  republican  government  overthrown,  they  did  not  like  the 
institution  of  slavery ;  that  while  the  merchants,  manufacturers,  and  ship 
builders  and  men  of  the  clubs  wanted  the  United  States  to  become  a  weak 
nation,  they  wanted  the  Confederacy  to  abolish  slavery. 

In  November,  1862,  Mr.  Mason,  who  was  waiting  in  London  to  be  rec 
ognized  as  Minister  of  the  Confederacy,  wrote  to  Mr.  Benjamin  that  any 
treaty  of  commerce  which  might  be  negotiated  with  England  must  in 
clude  a  clause  against  the  African  slave-trade.  Lord  Donnoughmore,  who 
was  a  warm  friend  of  the  South,  informed  Mr.  Mason  that  Lord  Palmer- 
ston  never  would  agree  to  a  treaty  that  did  not  contain  such  a  prohibi- 


476  MAKCHING  TO   VICTORY. 

tion  of  the  slave-trade,  and  that  the  House  of  Commons  would  not  uphold 
a  minister  for  a  moment  if  he  were  to  consent  to  a  treaty  with  such  prohi 
bition  omitted. 

This  the  reply  of  Mr.  Mason : 

"  I  told  him  that  I  feared  this  would  form  a  formidable  obstacle,  if  per 
sisted  in,  to  any  treaty.  He  must  be  aware  that  on  all  questions  affecting 
African  servitude  our  Government  was  naturally  and  necessarily  sensitive 
when  the  subject  was  presented  by  a  foreign  power.  We  had  learned, 
from  abundant  experience,  that  the  antislavery  sentiment  was  always  ag 
gressive.  The  condition  of  society  was  one  with  which,  in  our  opinion, 
the  destinies  of  the  South  were  indissolubly  connected."(&) 

Mr.  Slidell,  writing  from  Paris  in  February,  1862,  to  Mr.  Benjamin, 
said : 

"  I  often  hear  expressed  the  regret  that  slavery  exists  among  us,  and 
the  suggesting  of  a  hope  that  some  steps  may  be  taken  for  its  ultimate, 
but  gradual,  extinction.  .  .  .  The  sentiment  against  slavery  in  the  abstract 
is  as  wide-spread  in  France  as  in  England. "(6) 

Jefferson  Davis  wrote  a  letter  to  Pope  Pio  Nono  asking  that  the  Church 
of  Rome  would  wield  its  influence  to  put  an  end  to  the  war.  Mr.  Dudley 
Mann  was  commissioned  to  proceed  to  the  Vatican  and  present  it.  After 
the  letter  had  been  read  the  Pope  entered  into  conversation  with  Mr. 
Mann,  who  wrote  an  account  of  the  interview  to  Mr.  Benjamin : 

"  His  Holiness  now  stated,"  wrote  Mr.  Mann,  "  to  use  his  own  lan 
guage,  that  '  Lincoln  &  Company '  had  endeavored  to  create  the  impres 
sion  abroad  that  they  were  fighting  for  the  abolition  of  slavery,  arid  that 
perhaps  it  might  be  judicious  in  us  to  consent  to  general  emancipation. 

"  I  replied  that  the  subject  of  slavery  was  one  over  which  the  Govern 
ment  of  the  Confederate  States,  like  that  of  the  old  States,  had  no  control 
whatever ;  that  the  States  were  as  sovereign  as  France  ;  that  true  philan 
thropy  shuddered  at  the  thought  of  the  liberation  of  the  slaves  in  the  man 
ner  attempted  by  Lincoln  &  Company ;  that  such  a  procedure  would  be 
practically  to  convert  the  well-cared-for  civilized  negro  into  a  semi-barbar 
ism  ;  that  such  of  our  slaves  as  had  been  captured  by  the  enemy  were  in  an 
incomparably  worse  condition  than  while  with  their  masters ;  that  they 
wished  to  return  to  their  old  homes ;  that  if  indeed  African  slavery  were 
an  evil  there  was  a  Power  which  in  its  own  good  time  would  doubtless  re 
move  the  evil  in  a  more  gentle  manner  than  that  of  causing  the  earth  to 
be  deluged  with  blood  for  its  sudden  overthrow."(7) 

Mr.  De  Leon,  who  was  sent  to  Europe  to  write  articles  for  the  news 
papers  favorable  to  the  South,  wrote  this  to  Mr.  Benjamin : 


CLOSE  OF  THE  YEAR  1863.  477 

"The  only  difficulty  we  have  to  contend  with  is  the  slave  ques 
tion.^8) 

Through  its  own  representatives  in  foreign  lands  the  Confederate  Gov 
ernment  learned  that  the  moral  sense  of  the  world  was  arrayed  against 
slavery.  To  preserve  that  institution  Jefferson  Davis,  Judah  P.  Benjamin, 
John  Slidell,  John  M.  Mason,  and  their  fellow -conspirators  had  brought 
about  secession,  forcing  the  States  from  the  Union  against  the  will  of  a 
majority  of  the  Southern  people,  established  the  Confederacy,  and  inaugu 
rated  the  war.  They  ardently  desired  to  be  recognized  as  a  nation  by 
England  and  France  and  other  European  powers,  but  were  confronted  by 
the  unwelcome  truth  that  such  a  recognition  was  impossible  so  long  as 
slavery  was  the  corner-stone  of  the  Confederacy. 

The  illusive  picture  of  the  future  power  and  glory  of  the  South  which 
Jefferson  Davis  had  drawn  on  the  evening  of  his  inauguration  as  President, 
at  Montgomery,  in  February,  1861,  had  faded  away,  and  in  its  place  was  a 
blood  -  stained  canvas,  a  portrayal  of  devastation  and  desolation,  battle 
scenes  and  burning  dwellings,  hardship,  suffering,  woe,  and  a  perspective 
of  waning  hopes  and  final  subjugation. 

What  could  be  done  to  make  ultimate  success  possible  ?  The  Rich 
mond  Examiner,  ablest  of  all  the  newspapers  of  the  South,  with  the 
close  of  the  year  proclaimed  that  slavery  must  be  sacrificed  if  need  be 
to  secure  independence.  "  It  would  be,"  said  the  Examiner,  "  a  good 
bargain  to  secure  material  aid  by  a  formal  sacrifice  of  our  institution  of 
slavery/'O 

Opinions  which  at  the  beginning  of  the  war  were  firm  and  solid  were 
beginning  to  change.  But  the  war  was  not  ended.  There  were  still  great 
resources  available  in  the  Confederate  States.  Slaves  tilled  the  ground 
while  the  master  and  his  sons  fought  the  battles.  Under  the  remorseless 
conscription  thousands  of  soldiers  would  be  swept  into  the  army,  and  there 
was  still  an  uncompromising  defiance  towards  the  North,  and  the  deter 
mination  to  fight  to  the  bitter  end. 

In  the  Northern  States  the  victories  of  the  year  revived  the  patriotism 
of  1861,  and  veterans  who  had  seen  three  years  of  service,  who  had  been 
honorably  discharged,  voluntarily  re-enlisted  to  serve  to  the  end  of  the 
war.  President  Lincoln  had  issued  in  October  a  call  for  three  hundred 
thousand  troops.  A  great  political  party  in  the  North  was  declaring  that 
there  must  be  peace  at  any  price,  but  the  men  and  women  who  were  giv 
ing  their  lives,  their  fortunes,  and  all  that  was  dear  to  maintain  their  gov 
ernment,  were  more  than  ever  determined  that  the  war  should  go  on  till 
the  last  Confederate  had  laid  down  his  arms,  till  slavery  was  swept  from 


478  MARCHING  TO  VICTORY. 

the  land,  and  the  nation,  redeemed  and  purified,  should  remain  evermore 
a  government  of  the  people,  based  on  the  worth  and  dignity  of  man. 

"On  man,  as  man,  retaining  yet, 

Howe'er  debased  and  soiled  and  dim, 
The  crown  upon  his  forehead  set, 
The  immortal  gift  of  God  to  him." 


NOTES  TO  CHAPTER  XXV. 

O  Alfred  E.  Lee,  Magazine  of  American  History,  October,  1886,  p.  387. 

(2)  Idem,  p.  388. 

(3)  Charleston  Mercury,  December  26,  1863. 

(4)  John  H.  Gilmer,  Richmond  Dispatch,  December  19, 1863. 

(5)  Mason  to  Benjamin,  unpublished  Confederate  State  papers,  November  4,  1862. 

(6)  Slidell  to  Benjamin,  unpublished  Confederate  State  papers,  November  4, 1862. 

(7)  Mann  to  Benjamin,  unpublished  Confederate  State  papers,  August  13,  1863. 

(8)  De  Leon  to  Benjamin,  unpublished  Confederate  State  papers,  July  30, 1862. 

(9)  Richmond  Examiner,  quoted  in  Richmond  Enquirer,  January  2, 1864. 


INDEX. 


(B,  British;  C,  Confederate;  U,  Union.-) 


ADAMS,  CHAKLES  FRANCIS  (U.),  appointed 
Minister  to  Great  Britain,  17;  discloses  Na 
poleon's  plans,  30 ;  finds  England  aiding 
the  Confederacy,  32;  protests  against  the 
departure  of  the  Enrica,  33;  predicts  the 
fate  of  Mr.  Roebuck's  motion,  332;  protests 
against  vessels  being  built  for  the  Confed 
eracy,  363;  accuses  England  of  making  war 
upon  the  United  States,  364. 

Alabama  Regiment,  Ninth,  156,  157;  Forty- 
fourth,  248;  Forty-eighth,  243. 

Alexander,  E.  P.,  Col.  (C.),  235,  265, 266,  269, 
270,  271. 

Allen,  Captain  (U.),  180. 

Ames,  Adelbert,  Gen. (U.),  169,  213,  217,  258. 

Anderson,  G.  B.,  Gen.  (C.),  278. 

Anderson,  Major  (U.),  352. 

Anderson,  Patton,  Gen.  (C.),  391,  413,  417, 
446, 451. 

Anderson,  Robert  H.,  Maj.-gen.  (C.),  109, 
111,  129,  131,  132,  145,  151,  156,  158,  197, 
210,  235,  236,  239,  245,  248,  250,  259,  262, 
264,  265,  272,  464,  465. 

Andrew,  John  A.,  Gov.  of  Massachusetts  (U.), 
327,  343. 

Archer,  James  S., Gen.(C.),  202,  205, 206, 207, 
214,  265. 

Armistead,  Lewis,  Gen.  (C.),  265,  272,  275. 

Army  of  the  Cumberland,  (U.),  1,  36,  434, 
446,  449. 

Army  of  Northern  Virginia  (C.),  462,  474. 

Army  of  the  Potomac  (U.),  2,  99,  104,  160, 
167, 188, 189,  315,  462. 

Army  of  the  West  (C.),  473. 

Arrowsmith,  Captain  (U.),  140, 141. 

Audenreid,  Major  (U.),  461. 

Augur,  C.  C.,  Gen.  (U.),  308. 

Averill,  John  T.,  Gen.  (U.),  104, 108, 467, 468, 
469,  470. 

4yers,  Romeyn  B.,  Gen.  (U.),  246, 250. 


BAIRD,  ABSALOM,  Gen.  (U.),  395,  396,  403, 
405,  407,  442,  449,  450,  451, 452. 

Baldwin,  Colonel  (U.),  234. 

Baldwin,  General  (C.),  66,  285. 

Banks,  Nathaniel  P.,  Gen.  (U.),  43,  44,  56, 
160,298,308,311. 

Barksdale,  William,  Gen.  (C.),  149,  155,  235, 
236,  248,  249,  250". 

Barlow,  Francis  C.,  Gen.  (U.),  134,  135,  210, 
213,  214,  219,  220,  223,  231. 

Barnard,  Judge,  325. 

Barnes's,  James,  Gen.,  division  (U.),  245. 

Bartlett's  brigade  (U.),  156, 157. 

Barton,  General  (C.),  70. 

Barton's  brigade  (C.),  285. 

Bate,  General  (C.),  402,  446, 447,  451. 

Bates,  Colonel  (U.),  204. 

Battery,  Arnold's  Rhode  Island  (U.),  265, 464; 
Backman's  (C.),  278;  Best's  (U.),  148;  Bran- 
der's  Virginia  (C.),  214;  Brown's  Rhode 
Island  (U.),  464;  Clark's  (U.),  134,  240,  244, 
248;  Carter's  Virginia  (C.),  214;  Cushing's 
Fourth  United  States  (U.),  265, 276, 280 ;  Dil- 
ger's  First  Ohio  (U),  139,  213, 214,  215, 219; 
Dimmick's  (U.),  148, 149;  Fifth  Maine  (U), 
151,  213, 232,  258;  Fifth  Massachusetts  (U), 
240,  244;  Fifteenth  New  York  (U.),  240; 
First  New  York  (U.),  212;  First  Ohio  (U.), 
138,  142 ;  Fourth  United  States,  212,  213, 
217;  Gregg's  (U.),  473;  Gaillard's  (U.),  347; 
Hall's  (U.),  206,  207,  208,  210,  223,  276, 
Hart's  (U.),  240,  244;  Hazlett's  (U.),  245, 
246,247,  331;  Lewis's  (U.),151;  Livingston's 
(U.),  134;  Loomis's  (U.),448;  Martin's  (U.), 
140,  142;  Marye's  (C.),  201;  McKethan's 
(C.),  347;  Ninth  Massachusetts  (U.),  240, 
244,  249;  Pennington's  (U.),  263;  Poague's 
(C.),464;  Randol's(U.),263,278;  Randolph's 
(U.),  240;  Rhett's  (C.),  243;  Rittenhouse's 
4U.),  265;  Rorty's  (U.),  265;  Seeley's  (U.), 


480 


INDEX. 


151;  Second  Maine  (U.),  203,  210;  Sixth 
New  York  (U.),  104, 173;  Smith's  (U.),  76; 
Smith's  Fourth  New  York  (U.),  240,  243, 
244,  245;  Thirteenth  New  York  213; 
Thomas's  (U.),  253,  254;  Tidball's  (U.),  201; 
Wiederick's  (U.),  258;  Winslow's  (U.),  240, 
244,  245;  Woodruff's  (U.),  265. 

Battles:  Galveston,36;  Hatteras  and  Alabama, 
37;  Arkansas  Post,  43;  Port  Hudson— fleet 
and  batteries,44 ;  Queen  of  the  West  and  City 
of  Vicksburg,  48 ;  Port  Gibson,  65 ;  Jackson, 
68;  Champion  Hills, 70;  Big  Black  River, 73; 
Moutauk  and  Fort  McAllister,  83;  Charles 
ton  Harbor,  87;  Montauk  and  Nashville,  87; 
monitors  and  Fort  McAllister,  88;  monitors 
and  Fort  Sumter,  88 ;  Hartwood  Church, 
104  ;  Kelley's  Ford,  107  ;  Suffolk,  112  ; 
Chancellorsville,  137;  Marye's  Hill,  Fred- 
ericksburg,  155;  Salem  Church,  156;  Bran 
dy  Station,  169;  Winchester,  174;  Aldie,178; 
Middleburg,  179;  Upperville,  184;  Gettys 
burg,  First  Day,  201 ;  Second  Day,  228  ; 
Third  Day,  259;  Falling  Waters,  282;  siege 
of  Vicksburg,  289;  siege  of  Port  Hudson, 
308;  Morris  Island,  334;  monitors  and  Fort 
Wagner,  338;  Fort  Wagner,  343;  siege  of 
Fort  Wagner,  356;  bombardment  of  Sum 
ter,  356;  monitors  and  Fort  Moultrie,  363; 
Dug  Gap,  396;  Chickamauga,  401;  AVau- 
hatchie,  431;  Lookout  Mountain,  445;  Mis 
sionary  Ridge,  445 ;  Campbell's  Station, 
457;  Fort  Sanders,  458;  Bristoe,  464;  Rap- 
pahannock  Station,  466. 

Baxter's  brigade,  204,  205,  213,  215,  220. 

Baylor,  Lieutenant  (C.),  398. 

Beatty,  John,  Gen.  (U.),  407,  450. 

Beauregard,  G.  T.,  Gen.  (C.),  87,  348,  355,  356, 
359,361,363. 

Bell,  Commodore  (U. ),  39. 

Benjamin,  Judah  P.(C.),  receives  letters  from 
Mason,  26  ;  from  Slidell,  27 ;  from  Mr. 
Hotze,  164 ;  from  Mason,  165,  330,  331 ; 
sends  troops  to  crush  the  Union  party  in 
East  Tennessee,  370;  gives  orders  for  the 
treatment  of  Tennessee  Unionists,  377;  re 
ceives  a  letter  from  Mason,  475 ;  letters 
from  Slidell  and  others  regarding  slavery, 
476. 

Benjamin,  Lieutenant  (U.),  458. 

Benning's  brigade  (C.),  245.  • 

Benton's  brigade  (U. ),  292. 

Berdan,  Hiram,  Col.  (U.),  134,  148,  235. 

Berry,  Hiram  G.,  Gen.  (U.),  140, 141, 142, 143, 

145,  147,  148,  149,  150. 
Biddle's.  Georg-e  H..  brigade  (U.),  212,  219. 


Bigelow,  John,  Capt.  (U.),  240,  244,  248,  249. 

Birney,  David  B.,  Gen.  (U.),  133,  134,  147 
148,  465. 

Blair,  F.  P.  (U.),  66,  73,  289,  291,  293,  294. 

Blake,  Captain,  Navy  (U.),  39. 

Botts,  John  M.  (U.),  6. 

Boweu,  General  (C.),  66,  70,  73,  74,  285,  304. 

Bradley,  Private  (U.),  446. 

Bragg,  Braxton  (C.),in  Tennessee, 77;  at  Tul- 
lahoma,  160,  161 ;  possible  effect  of  mov 
ing  to  Vicksburg,  294;  driven  from  Ten 
nessee,  316;  sends  Morgan  on  a  raid,  328; 
loss  by  Morgan's  surrender,  330  ;  sends 
troops  to  East  Tennessee,  370;  joined  by 
Buckner,  380;  retreats  from  Murfreesboro, 
385;  forced  to  Chattanooga,  386,  389,  390; 
reinforced,  391 ;  moves  towards  Chicka 
mauga,  392 ;  prepares  to  attack  Rosecrans, 
395,396,397,398;  moves  to  cross  the  Chick 
amauga,  399  ;  joined  by  Lougstreet,  401 ; 
in  battle,  402,  405,  406,  407,  408,  415,  416  ; 
his  probable  loss, 419;  at  Missionary  Ridge, 
420,  422,  424,  426,  431 ;  sends  Longstreet  to 
East  Tennessee,  434,  437;  writes  to  Grant, 
438;  sends  troops  to  Longstreet,  442;  at 
tacked,  445;  withdraws  troops  from  Look 
out  Mountain,  446,  447;  attacked,  448,  449; 
defeated,  451,  452;  retreats  to  Dalton,  455, 
458,  460;  succeeded  by  Johnston,  467;  his 
defeat  a  crushing  blow  to  the  Confederacy, 
474. 

Brauuan,  J.  M.,  Gen.  (U.),  402,  407,  408,  409, 
413,  415,  416,  417,  418,  441. 

Breckinridge,  John  C.,  Gen.  (C.),  396,  405, 
407,  414,  419. 

Brewster's  brigade  (U.),  249. 

Brooks,  Adjutant  (U.),  208. 

Brooks's  division  (U.),  155,  156. 

Brown,  General  (C.),  402. 

Brown,  John  (U.),  176. 

Brown,  Lieutenant  (U.),  183,  265,  269. 

Browulow,  Rev.  W.  G.  (U.),  368,  372. 

Buchanan,  James,  President,  381. 

Buckner,  Simon  B.,  Gen.  (C.),  378,  380,  391, 
397,  401,  405. 

Buell,  Don  Carlos,  Gen.  (U.),  128. 

Buford,  John,  Gen.  (U.),  169,  170,  173,  184, 
194,  195,  198,  200,  201,  202,  203,  209,  211, 
219,  230. 

Buford's  brigade  (C.),  73,  285. 

Bulloch,  Captain  (C.),  33,  352. 

Burbridge,  Stephen  G.,  Gen.  (U.),  292. 

Burling,  George  C.,  Col.  (U.),  240,  248 

Burnham's  brigade  (U.),  155, 156. 

Burns,  John  (U.),  204. 


INDEX. 


481 


Burnside,  Ambrose  E.,  Maj.-gen.  (U.),  dis 
satisfaction  in  his  army,  99;  transferred  to 
Ohio,  100;  mentioned  by  Longstreet,  162; 
sends  reinforcements  to  Vicksburg,  297;  at 
Cincinnati,  328;  moves  to  wards  Knoxville, 
878;  takes  possession  of  the  (C.)  arsewrf; 
380;  moves  east  through  Kentucky,  389; 
at  Knoxville,  434;  Grant  sends  a  message 
to,  437;  Bragg  sends  more  troops  against, 
442;  reinforcements  sent  by  Grant,  455; 
concentrates  his  troops,  456,  457 ;  repels  the 
attack  on  Fort  Sanders,  458,  459,  460;  fol 
lows  Longstreet  east,  461,  467. 

Burrell,  Colonel  (U.), -36. 

Bushbeck,  General  (U.),  129,  135,  139. 

Butler,  Benjamin  F.,  Gen.  (U.),  96. 

CALDWELL'S  division  (U.),  246,  250, 463,  464, 
465. 

Calef,  Lieutenant  (U.),  201,  202,  203,  205,  206. 

Candy's  brigade  (U.),  261. 

Carlin's  brigade  (U. ),  446. 

Carney,  Sergeant  (U.),  346,  350. 

Carpenter,  Lieutenant  (U.),  140. 

Carr,  Joseph  B.,  Gen.  (U.),  66,  69,  73,  233. 

Carriugton,  H.  B.,  Col.  (U.),  12. 

Carrol,  General  (C.),  370,  371,  376. 

Carrol,  Thofhas  R.  (U.),  47,  258. 

Cesnola,  Colonel  (U.),  179. 

Chamberlain,  Joshua  L.,  Col.  (U.),  247. 

Chambliss,  Colonel  (C.),  183,  185,  226. 

Charleston  Battalion  (C.),  348. 

Chase,  Salmon  P.  (U.),  14. 

Cheatham,  B.  F.,  Gen.  (C.),  385,  402,  405,  407, 
446,  447,  451. 

Churchill,  T.  J.,  Gen.  (C.),  40,  43. 

Clayton's  brigade  (C.),  402. 

Cleburne's  division  (C.),  396,  405,  407,  446, 
448,  455. 

Cochran's  brigade  (C.),  285. 

Cockerell,  General  (C.),  70,  73. 

Colgrove,  Colonel  (U.),  261. 

Colquitt's  brigade  (C.),  136. 

Colston's  division  (C.),  136,  140, 152. 

Colville,  Colonel  (U.),  253,  254. 

Confederacy,  the,  object  of,  2;  recognized  by 
Great  Britain  as  a  war-making  power,  18; 
founded  on  slavery,  114  ;  recognition  by 
England  and  France  desired,  163;  the  im 
portance  of  Vicksburg  to,  285;  its  losses, 
316,  317;  effect  of  Gettysburg  and  Vicks 
burg  on  its  English  friends,  330;  its  high 
tide,  332;  opposed  in  East  Tennessee,  366; 
controls  the  treasury  of  Tennessee,  367; 
its  conscription,  378;  the  Lawrence  massa- 

31 


ere  a  result  of,  384;  imitated  by  the  "Jones 
County  Confederacy,"  472;  its  power  wan 
ing,  473,  474;  slavery  its  corner-stone,  475, 
477. 

Confederate  cotton  loan,  165. 

Connecticut  Regiment  (U.),  Sixth,  337,  341, 
345,346;  Seventh,  338;  Eighth,  112;  Tenth, 
343;  Fourteenth,  264;  Seventeenth,  216, 
217. 

Conscription  act,  Confederate,  6. 

Copperhead,  9,  321,  343. 

Corcoran,  Michael,  Gen.  (U.),  113. 

Corse's  brigade  (U.),  448. 

Costar,  General  (U.),  223,  263. 

Couch,  D.N.,  Gen.  (U.),  150,  175. 

Crawford's  brigade  (U.),  246. 

Crittenden,  George  B.,  Gen.  (C.),  372. 

Crittenden,  Thomas  L.,  Gen.  (U.),  390,  392, 
395,  396, 397,  398,  399,  405,  413,  415,  416. 

Crosby,  Captain  (U.),  142. 

Cross's  brigade  (U.),  246. 

Croxton's  brigade  (U.),  402. 

Graft's  brigade  (U.),  442,  445,  452. 

Crutchfield,  Captain  (C.),  143. 

Cummings,  General  (C.),  70,  73,  285. 

Cunningham,  Miss  Sallie  (C.),  468. 

Curtin,  A.  G.,  Governor  of  Pennsylvania  (U.), 
175,188. 

Cushing,  Lieutenant  (U.),  Ill,  112. 

Custer,  George  A.,  Gen.  (U.),  226. 

Cutler's  brigade,  203,  205,  206,  207,  212,  215, 
219. 

DAHLGREN,  ADMIRAL  (U.),  359,  363. 

Davis,  Colonel  (U.),  170. 

Davis,  Jefferson  (C.),  controls  the  men  of  the 
South,  5;  message  of,  to  the  Confederate 
Congress,  8;  commissions  Semmes  Captain 
of  the  Navy,  34;  speaks  at  Vicksburg,  56; 
sends  messages  to  Pemberton  and  Johns 
ton,  67;  announces  the  blockade  of  Charles 
ton  raised,  87;  expects  aid  from  England, 
114,  164;  his  government  built  on  slavery, 
177  ;  feelings  towards  Johnston,  294  ;  or 
ders  Johnston  to  attack  Grant,  297;  men 
tioned  by  pickets,  298;  a  Richmond  paper 
his  organ,  317;  controls  the  military  force 
of  Tennessee,  367  ,  Governor  Harris,  of 
Tennessee,  writes  to,  370  ;  grants  request 
of  a  Tennessee  girl  for  her  father's  life, 
376;  visits  the  army  at  Lookout  Mountain, 
424 ;  addresses  the  soldiers,  425  ;  plans  to 
expel  Burnside  from  Tennessee,  434;  a 
county  of  his  State  secedes,  471,  472;  his 
State  invaded,  473 ;  dissatisfaction  of  the 


482 


INDEX. 


people  with,  475;  writes  to  the  Pope,  476; 

changes  since  his  inauguration,  477. 
Davis,  Sergeant  (U. ),  446. 
Davis's  brigade  (C.),  195,202,205,206,207,208, 

214,  409, 464. 

Davis's  division  (U.),  402,  408,  415,  416,  461. 
Deas's  brigade  (C.),  417,  452. 
De  Courcy,  Colonel  (C.),  378. 
De  Leon,  Mr.  (C.),  476. 
De  Trobriand's  brigade  (U.),  240,  245,  246. 
Delaware  brigade,  First  (U.),  264. 
Dessane,  Captain  (U.),  138. 
Devens,  Charles,  Gen.  (U.),  139,  140. 
Devereux,  Colonel  (U.),  276. 
Devin,  Thomas  C.,  Gen.  (U.),  133,  135,  138, 

195,201,205. 
Dole's  brigade  (C.),  136,139,214,215,219,223 

233. 

Donnoughmore,  Lord,  475. 
Doubleday,  Abner,  Gen.  (U.),  128,  206,  208, 

209,  210,  216,  219. 
Douglass,  Charles  S.  (U.),  368. 
Dudley,  Captain  (U.),  140. 
Duffie,  Alfred  K,  Col.  (U.),  104,108,169,173, 

178,  179, 180, 183. 
Dupont,  Admiral  (U.),  98. 

EARLY,  JUBAL,  Gen.  (C.),  at  Fredericksburg, 
152,  155  ;  at  Hamilton's  Crossing,  157  ;  at 
Banks's  Ford,  158 ;  on  the  way  to  York, 
185, 186,  188  ;  enters  York,  191,  194  ;  en 
gages  with  Colonel  Frick  at  Wrightsville, 
192  ;  near  Gettysburg,  196  ;  reaches  the 
town,  214,216,219,220,257;  Stuart's  search 
for,  226 ;  attacked  at  Rappahannock  Sta 
tion,  466;  sent  to  Staunton,  468. 

Echols,  John,  Gen.  (C.),  468. 

Ector's  brigade  (C.),  297,  402. 

Ellet,  Alfred  W.,  Col.  (U.),  48. 

Emilio,  Captain  (U.),  346. 

Erickson,  Lieutenant  (U.),  248,  249. 

Erlanger,  Baron,  164. 

Eustis's  brigade  (U.),  155,  258. 

Evans,  General  (C.),  297. 

Ewell,  R.  S.,  Gen.  (C.),  464,  465,  466. 

Ewing,  Captain  (U.),  291,  292,  470. 

FARNSWORTH,  E.  J.,  Gen.  (U.),  226,  278. 
Farragut,  Admiral  (U.),43,  44,  47,  52,  95,  308. 
Featherstone's  brigade  (C.),  73. 
Ferrero's  division  (U.),  457. 
Field,  Colonel  (C.),  265,  452,  455. 
Foltz,  Surgeon  (U.),  44. 
Foote,  H.  S.  (C.),  6,  8. 
Forney,  General  (C.),  285,  304. 


Forrest,  N.  B.,  Gen.  (C.),  402,  420,  424. 

Forts :  Anderson,  109  ;  Donelson,  94,  95 ; 
Hindman,  40,  43;  Johnson,  359;  Marshal, 
356;  McAllister,  87,  88;  Moultrie,  91,  92, 
356,  363  ;  Pemberton,  54,  65  ;  Preble,  352  ; 
Pulaski,  333  ;  Ripley,  359  ;  Sanders,  457. 
458,  461  ;  Sumter,  2,  83,  88,  91,  92,  94,  334, 

337,  338,  345,  349,  355,  356,  359,  360,  363, 
366,  473;  Wagner,  91,  333,  334,  337,  338, 
341,  344,  345,  347,  349,  350,  355,  356,  360, 
363,  475;  Warren,  21 ;  Wood,  441,  448,  449. 

Foster,  J.  G.,  Gen.  (U.),  109,  378. 

Fowler,  Colonel  (U.),  208. 

Franklin's  brigade  (U.),  148. 

Fraser,  General  (U.),  381. 

Freemantle,  Lieutenant-colonel,  230,  277. 

French,  William  H.,  Gen.  (U.),  178, 189, 190, 

281. 

French's  division  (C.),  Ill,  112. 
Frick,  Colonel  (U.),  192. 
Fullerton,  Colonel  (U.),  414,  415. 

GAMBLE,  WILLIAM,  Gen.  (U.),  195,  201,  205. 
Gardner,  General  (C.),  44,  77,  81,  308,  311. 
Garfield,  James  A.,  Gen.  (U.),  416,  417,  418. 
Garnett,  Richard  (C.),  265,  271,  272. 
Geary,  John  W.,  Gen.  (U.),  148, 151,  261,  431, 

432,  442,  445,  452. 
Geible,  Sergeant  (U.),  258. 
Georgia  Regiment  (C.),   Seventh,  370,  371; 

Ninth,  278;  Sixteenth,  370;  Thirty-second, 

348;  Fiftieth,  248. 

Getty,  George  W.,  Gen.  (U.),  Ill,  112. 
Gibbon's  division  (U.),  146, 152, 155,  158,  233, 

250,  264,  265,  272. 
Gilmer,  John  H.  (C.),  475. 
Gilmore,  Quincy  A.,  Gen.  (U.),  333,  334,  337, 

338,  341,  347,  348,  349,  355,  356,  359,  360, 
363. 

Gist,  Colonel  (C.),  68,  297,  446,  448. 

Gordon,  J.  B.,  Gen.  (C.),  192,  214,  219,  220. 

Graham,  General  (U.),  134,  147,  240,  248,  249. 

Granger,  Gordon,  Gen.  (U.),  398,399,413,414, 
415,  416, 417,  418,  442,  455, 460,  461. 

Grant,  Ulysses  S.  (U.),  in  Mississippi,  40; 
takes  command  at  mouth  of  the  Arkansas, 
43;  rigs  a  mock  steamer,  57;  tries  to  turn 
the  Mississippi,  52;  his  removal  attempted, 
57 ;  obstacles  in  his  way,58 ;  lays  new  plans, 
62 ;  orders  Sherman  to  join  him,  66 ;  re 
ceives  orders  from  Halleck,  67;  in  rear  of 
Vicksburg,68,  69;  atChampionHills,70,74; 
in  the  Vicksburg  campaign,  81,  82,  160, 
161 ;  attacks  the  city,  285,  286,  289,  290, 
292;  misled  by  despatches  from  McCler- 


INDEX. 


483 


nand,  293;  plans  a  new  campaign,  294; 
receives  more  troops,  297;  builds  intrench- 
ments,  298;  his  defeat  expected  by  Confed 
erates,  300 ;  prevents  Johnston  from  reach 
ing  the  city,  303 ;  meets  Pemberton  to 
arrange  terms  of  surrender,  304;  enters 
Vicksburg,  307;  sends  word  to  Banks,  311; 
England  hears  of  his  victory,  332;  his  suc 
cess  brings  relief  to  East  Tennessee,  378; 
ordered  to  report  at  Cairo,  421 ;  meets  Mr. 
Stanton,  422;  reaches  Chattanooga,  425, 
426;  gives  General  Smith  charge  of  the 
Lookout  Valley  movement,  428  ;  orders 
Sherman  to  hurry  east,  433 ;  sends  message 
to  Burnside,  437;  receives  a  letter  from 
Bragg,  438 ;  prepares  to  attack  Missionary 
Ridge,  441,  442;  renews  the  battle,  446, 448, 
449, 451 ;  sends  reinforcements  to  Burnside, 
455,  460. 

Gray,  Surgeon  (U.),  461. 

Green,  General  (C.),  66,  70,  73,  285. 

Green's  brigade  (U.),  257,  261. 

Gregg,  David  McM.,  Gen.  (U.),  at  Brandy 
Station,  169,  173;  at  Aldie,  179,  180,  184; 
at  Gettysburg,  263,  278;  captures  prisoners 
at  Williamsport,  281 ;  on  the  Upper  Rap- 
pahannock,  463,  464. 

Gregg,  John  Irvin,  Gen.  (U.),  263. 

Gregg,  Maxey,  Gen.  (C.),  67,  68,  398,  417. 

Gregg's  cavalry  (U.),  169,  170,  183,  194,  226, 
262,  281. 

Grierson,  Benjamin  H.,  Gen.  (U.),  65,  74,  77, 
78,  81,  82,  297,  308. 

Griffith,  Sergeant  (U.),  292. 

Grose's  brigade  (U.),  418,  445. 

HADDOCK,  ADJUTANT  (U.),  140, 141. 

Halleck,  H.  W.,  Gen.  (U.),  urges  Grant  to 
action,  57;  orders  him  back  to  Port  Hud 
son,  67;  uncertain  as  to  Lee's  plans,  177; 
refuses  to  place  French's  troops  under 
Hooker's  command,  178,  189  ;  orders  the 
arrest  of  Hooker,  190;  orders  Grant's  rein 
forcement,  297;  sends  orders  to  Rosecrans, 
386 ;  deceived  as  to  the  Confederate  move 
ments,  392 ;  orders  Grant  to  reinforce  Rose 
crans,  421 ;  gives  discretionary  orders  to 
General  Kelley,  467. 

Hallo  well,  Lieutenant  (U.)(  344,  345. 

Hamilton,  Captain  (C.),  238. 

Hammond,  Major  (U.),  226. 

Hammond,  Mr.,  114. 

Hampton,  Wade,  Gen.  (C.),  184, 185, 188,  226, 
278. 

Hancock,  W.  S.,  Gen.  (U.),  at  Chancellors- 


ville,  148,  151;  turns  Stuart  back  at  Hay- 
market,  185;  commands  the  Second  Corps, 
194,  196 ;  directs  the  battle  at  Gettysburg, 
224,  225;  relieved  by  Meade's  arrival,  228; 
takes  command  of  Sickles's  troops,  249, 250, 
253,  258,  in  the  third  day's  battle,  272, 276. 

Hardee,  General  (C.),  446,  447,  451,  452. 

Hardie,  Colonel  (U.),  189. 

Barker's  brigade  (U.),  450,  451. 

Harney,  Major  (U.),  207. 

Harris,  Isham  G., Governor  of  Tennessee  (C.), 
366,  367,  370,  371. 

Harrison,  Scout  (C.),  174, 193. 

Harrow's  brigade  (U.),  276. 

Hart,  Major  (C.),  170. 

Hartranft,  John  F.,  Gen.  (U.),  456,  457. 

Hartsuff,  George,  Gen.  (U.),  378. 

Hascall,  Milo  S.,  Gen.  (U.),  460. 

Hatch,  Colonel  (U.),  77. 

Hayes,  Alexander,  Gen.(U.),  150,  264, 265, 272, 

463,  464. 

Hays's  brigade  (C.),  155,  214,  219,  257. 

Hazard,  John  G.,  Capt.  (UA  265. 

Hazen,  William  B.,  Gen.  (U.),  390,  391,  405, 
418,427,428,431,450,451. 

Hecker,  Colonel  (U.),139. 

Heckman's  brigade  (U.),  213. 

Heintzelman,  Samuel  P.,  Gen.  (U.),  178. 

Herbert,  General  (C.),  285,  291. 

Herron,  Francis  J.,  Gen.  (U.),  297. 

Heth,  Harry,  Gen.  (C.),  149,  195,  197,  201, 
202,  205,  214,  219,  230,  264,  272,  464. 

Hickman,  Captain  (U.),  138. 

Higginson,  T.  W.,  Col.  (U.),  97. 

Hill,  A.  P.,  Gen.  (C.),  at  Chancellorsville,  132, 
136,  142,  143,  144,  145,  152;  a  corps  com 
mander,  166;  on  the  way  to  Culpeper,  177; 
at  Chambersburg,  186,  188  ;  ordered  tow 
ards  Gettysburg,  194,  195,  196,  197,  200;  a 
part  of  his  troops  enter  the  town,  201; 
sends  reinforcements  to  Heth,  202,  211; 
arrives  at  Gettysburg,  213,  214;  praises  the 
bravery  of  a  Union  color-bearer,  220;  con 
sults  with  Lee,  230;  the  third  day's  battle, 
259,  262,  264,  265,  269;  consults  with  Lee, 
279;  attacks  the  Union  troops  at  Bristoe, 

464,  465;  on  the  Rapidan,  466. 

Hill,  D.  H.,  Gen.  (C,),  in  North  Carolina,  109, 
111;  joins  Longstreet,  113;  joins JBragg  at 
Chickamauga,  401 ;  placed  under  Polk,  405 ; 
fails  to  receive  the  order  to  attack,  406; 
quoted  from,  407;  in  battle,  414;  sent  east, 
420. 

Hill,  Private  (U.),  446. 

Hilliard,  Henry  W.  (C.),  367. 


INDEX. 


Hindman,  Thomas  C.,  Gen.  (C.),  396,  405, 
409,  413,  417,  419,  424. 

Hobson,  E.  H.,  Gen.  (U.),  329. 

Hoffman,  Colonel  (U.),  206. 

Hoke's  brigade  (C.),  214,  219,  257. 

Hood,  John  B.,  Gen.  (C.),  109,  111,  112,  197, 
235,  237,  238,  239,  243,  246,  248,  391,  398, 
402,  408,  409,  462. 

Hooker,  Joseph,  Gen.  (U.),  commander  of 
Army  of  the  Potomac,  100  ;  grants  fur 
loughs,  103;  devises  a  system  of  badges, 
104;  difficulties  in  his  way,  127;  his  plan 
upset  by  rain,  128  ;  at  Chancellorsville, 
129,  130,  131,  132,  133,  134,  135,  139,  141, 
142,  145,  146,  147,  149;  injured  by  a  pillar, 
150;  north  of  Chancellorsville,  152,  157; 
consults  with  his  officers,  158;  opinions  as 
to  his  course,  159;  Lee's  plans  against,  161, 
162;  sends  despatches  to  Washington,  167; 
receives  advice  from  Lincoln,  168 ;  uncertain 
as  to  Lee's  plans,  177;  asks  control  of  Gen 
eral  French's  troops,  178;  Stuart's  instruc 
tions  regarding,  185;  moves  north,  188;  re 
lieved  of  his  command  at  his  request,  189; 
his  arrest  ordered  by  Halleck,  190;  com 
mands  troops  from  the  Potomac,  421 ;  at 
Bridgeport,  427;  reaches  Lookout  Valley, 
428;  reinforces  Geary  at  Wauhatchie,  431 ; 
432;  his  rapid  journey  from  the  East,  437; 
in  the  Valley,  441 ;  attacks  Lookout  Mount-  j 
ain,  442,  445;  victorious,  446;  attacks  Mis 
sionary  Ridge,  447,  448,449, 452;  Longstreet 
hears  of  his  victory,  458. 

Hotchkiss,  Captain  (C.),  144. 

Hotchkiss,  General  (C.),  127. 

Hotze,  Mr.  (C.),  164. 

Hovey,  Alvin  P.,  Gen.  (U.),  69,  70,  73. 

Howard,  Charles,  Maj.  (U.),  216,  233. 

Howard,  O.  O.,  Gen.  (U.),  at  Chancellors 
ville,  129,  132,  133,  134,  135,  136,  137,  139, 
140,141, 148;  atEmmettsburg,  196;  ordered 
to  Gettysburg,  203  ;  arrives,  208  ;  made 
commander  of  the  right  wing  by  Reyn- 
olds's  death,  209,  210,  211,  212,  214,  216  ; 
relieved  by  Hancock,  225,  228,  233,  262, 
281  ;  goes  west  with  troops,  421  ;  sends 
troops  to  Geary's  aid,  431;  at  Chattanoo 
ga,  442,  446  ;  sent  to  Burnside's  relief  at 
Knoxville,  455,  460. 

Howe's  division  (U.),  155,  156. 

Huber,  Mr.  (U.),  187. 

Huey,  Major  (U.),  40. 

Hughes,  Archbishop  (U.),  327. 

Humphreys,  Andrew  A.,  Gen.  (U.),  228,  233, 
240,  249,  250. 


Hunt,  Henry  8.,  Gen.  (U.),  151,  239,  240,  265, 

266,  270,  271,  281. 

Hunter,  David,  Gen.  (U.),  95,  96,  98. 
Huntington,  Captain  (U.),  142, 147. 
Hurlburt,  Stephen  A.,  Gen.  (U.),  294. 

ILLINOIS  REGIMENT  (U.),  First,  74;  Sixth, 
74;  Seventh,  84;  Eighth,  170;  Nineteenth, 
396;  Seventy-seventh,  292;  Eighty-second, 
139,  140. 

Imboden,  J.  D.,  Gen.  (C.),  177,  193,  197,  468. 

Indiana  Regiment  (U. ),  Nineteenth,  220; 
Twenty-seventh,  150,  261. 

Iowa  Regiment  (U  ),  Second,  74,  77;  Twen 
ty-first,  292;  Twenty-second,  292. 

Iverson's  brigade  (C.),  136, 149,  214,  215,  216. 

JACKSON,  T.  J.  (Stonewall),  Gen.  (C.),  ordered 
to  Port  Royal,  128 ;  joins  Lee  at  Chan 
cellorsville,  131  ;  consults  with  Lee,  132  ; 
moves  to  gain  Hooker's  flank,  133, 134, 135 ; 
136,  137,  139,  140,  141, 142;  death,  143, 144; 
his  troops  commanded  by  Stuart,  145;  oth 
er  mention,  146, 148,  149, 152, 159, 160, 463. 

James,  Adjutant  (U.),  344,  345. 

Jenkins,  General  (C.),  177,  185, 192,  193,  197, 
263. 

Johns,  Colonel  (U.),  155,  156. 

Johnson,  Andrew  (U.),  368. 

Johnson,  B.  R.,  Gen.  (C.),  408,  409,  413,  417. 

Johnson,  Colonel  (C.),  Engineer,  235. 

Johnson's  brigade  (U.),  402,  405,  417, 442, 449. 

Johnson's  division  (C.),  185,  186,  188,  197, 
214,  257,  259,  262,  398,  402,  407. 

Johnston,  Joseph  E.,  Gen.  (C.),  arrives  at 
Jackson,  67  ;  defeated,  68 ;  moves  to  join 
Pemberton,  69,  77,  82,  161,  285;  his  re 
quests  ignored  by  Jefferson  Davis,  294  ; 
gathers  troops  at  Canton,  297;  exchanges 
messages  with  Pemberton,  298 ;  expected 
at  Vicksburg,  300;  kept  away  by  Grant, 
303;  turned  back  by  Sherman,  307;  sends 
message  to  Gardner,  308;  sends  reinforce 
ments  to  Bragg,  391,  396;  succeeds  Bragg 
at  Dalton,  467. 

Jones,  Captain  (U.),  327. 

Jones  County  Confederacy,  471,  472. 

Jones's  brigade  (C.),  152,  169,  170,  184,  193, 
194,  434. 

Judah,  Henry  M.,  Gen.  (U.),  329. 

Judge,  Sergeant  (U.),  458. 

Judson,  General  (C.),  127. 

KANE'S  brigade  (U.).  261. 
Keenan,  Major  (U.),  140,  141 


INDEX. 


485 


Kelley,  B.  F.,  Gen.  (U.),  177,  246,  467. 
Kemper,  J.  L.,  Gen.  (C.),  265,  272. 
Kentucky  Regiment  (U.),  Fifth,  450;  Eighth, 

446. 
Kershaw's  brigade  (C.),  245,  248,  249,  408, 

409,  413,  417. 

Keyes,  Erasmus  D.,  Gen.  (U.),  109,  178. 
Kilpatrick,  Judson,  Gen.  (U.),  178,  179,  180, 

226,  263,  281,  282. 
Kimball,  Nathan,  Gen.  (U.),  297. 
Kirby,  Major  (U.),  56. 
Knight,  Nathan,  471,  472. 
Knights  of  the  Golden  Circle,  10,  322. 
Knipe's  brigade  (U.),  149. 
Kraemer,  Corporal  (U.),  252. 
Kryzanowski,  Waldemir,  Gen.  (U.),  213. 

LAMSON,  LIEUTENANT  (U.),  111. 

Laudram,  Wm.  J.,  Gen.  (U.),  292. 

Lane,  James  H.,  Gen.  (U.),  383. 

Lane's  brigade  (C.),  149,  214,  265. 

Lang,  Colonel  (C.),  170. 

Lauman,  Jacob  G.,  Gen.  (U.),  294,  297,  307, 
312. 

Law,  E.  M.,  Gen.  (C.),  231,  237,  243,  245. 

Lawler's  brigade  (U.),  292. 

Lea,  Lieutenant,  Navy  (U.),  39. 

Leadbeater,  Colonel  (C.),  370. 

Lee,  Colonel  (C.),  70,285. 

Lee,  Fitz-Hugh,  Gen.  (C.),  104,  108,  109,  130, 
135,  136,  168,  185,  226,  263,  462,  468. 

Lee,  Major  (C.),  406. 

Lee,  Robert  E.,  Gen.  (C.),  on  the  Rappahan- 
nock,  99, 127,  128, 131, 132;  at  Chancellors- 
ville,  141, 142,  145,  146,  147,  148,  151,  152, 
156, 158;  at  Fredericksburg,  159, 160;  con 
sults  with  Lohgstreet,  161, 162;  prepares  to 
invade  Pennsylvania,  164, 165, 166,167,168; 
obliged  to  change  his  plans,  173,  174;  ad 
vice  of  Lincoln  to  Hooker  concerning,  175; 
his  plans  unknown  to  the  Union  army,  174, 
178;  orders  of,  to  Ewell  and  Stuart,  185;  at 
Chambersburg,  186,  187, 188,189,  192,  193; 
receives  information  from  Harrison,  194;  at 
Greenwood,  197  ;  at  Cash  town,  201,  210  ; 
talks  with  Longstreet  at  Gettysburg,  225; 
Meade's  plan  for  attacking,  229 ;  prepares 
for  battle,  230,  231,  235,  239  ;  size  of  his 
army,  240 ;  plans  to  renew  the  attack,  259, 
260,  262, 264,  270,  277,  279;  distressed  by  the 
defeat,  280;  moves  south,  281;  reaches  Vir 
ginia,  282;  mentioned  in  letters  from  Eng 
land,  330, 331 ;  England  hears  of  his  defeat, 
332 ;  sends  troops  to  Bragg,  391 ;  moves  up 
the  Rappahannock,  462,  463;  at  Culpeper, 


465;  at  Gordonsville,  466,  467;  deceived  as 
to  Averill's  plans,  468. 
!  Lee,  W.  H.  F.,  Gen.  (C.),  180,  183,  263. 

Leigh,  Captain  (C.),  143. 

Lincoln,  Abraham,  issues  Proclamation  of 
Emancipation,  8,11;  opposition  to,  9;  mes 
sage  of,  to  Congress,  13, 14;  discouragement 
of  his  supporters,  15,  appoints  a  Minister 
to  Great  Britain,  17;  efforts  to  influence 
him  against  Grant,  57;  authorizes  the  en 
listment  of  negroes,  96;  appoints  Burnside 
commander  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac, 
99;  appoints  Hooker  to  succeed  Burnside, 
100;  sends  despatch  to  Hooker,  103;  letter 
of  English  working-people  to,  120;  sends 
a  message  to  the  same,  123;  accepts  the  res 
ignation  of  General  Revere,  150;  sends  or 
ders  to  Hooker,  159;  sends  Mr.  Vallandig- 
ham  south,  162 ;  advises  Hooker,  168, 1 74 ;  or 
ders  Pennsylvania  to  prepare  for  invasion, 
175  ;  appoints  Meade  to  succeed  Hooker, 
189, 190;  regard  of  for  General  Reynolds, 
207  ;  spoken  of  by  pickets  at  Vicksburg, 
298;  mentioned  by  a  Richmond  paper,  313; 
his  suspension  of  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus 
legalized, 318;  replies  to  Mr.  Vallandigham, 
319;  denounced  by  a  mob  at  New  York, 
322,  326;  appoints  General  Gillmore,  333; 
allows  the  employment  of  colored  soldiers, 
343;  deeply  affected  by  misery  in  Tennes 
see,  378 ;  receives  despatch  from  Rosecrans, 
418;  his  proclamation  known  to  slaves, 475; 
calls  for  more  men,  477. 

Lincoln  and  Company,  476. 
|  Lincoln,  Mayor  (U.),  327. 

Lindsay,  General  (U.),  40. 

Lindsay,  Mr.  (British),  164,  165,  166. 
'  Lockwood's  brigade  (U,),  261. 

Logan,  John  A.,  Gen.  (U.),  67,  68,  69,  70,  285, 
292,  293,  301,  304. 

Long,  Colonel  (U.),  461. 

Longstreet,  James,  Gen.  (C.),  moves  to  Suf 
folk,  109,  110,  111,  112;  summoned  by  Lee 
to  Chancellorsville,  1 13 ;  at  Fredericksburg, 
160  ;  consults  with  Lee,  161  ;  moves  tow 
ards  Culpeper,  166,  167;  sends  Harrison  as 
scout,  174  ;  on  .the  eastern  slope  of  Blue 
Ridge,  177;  sends  McLaws  to  aid  Stuart, 
184;  near  Chambersburg,  188;  receives  in 
formation  from  Harrison,  193;  ordered  tow 
ards  Gettysburg,  194;  at  Greenwood,  Pa., 
197;  at  Cashtown,  210;  at  Gettysburg,  225, 
230,  231,  235,  236,  238,  239,  254,  257,  259, 
260,  262,  263,  264,  265,  266,  269,  270  ;  de- 
i  scribes  the  close  of  the  battle,  276;  talks 


486 


INDEX. 


with  Lieutenant-colonel  Freemantle,  277; 
predicted  the  result,  279;  sends  troops  to 
Bragg,  391,398;  joins  Bragg  at  Chickamau- 
ga,  401  ;  in  battle,  407,  408,  410,  413,  415, 
416,  417,  418;  Bragg's  success  due  to  his 
troops,  421,  426  ;  attacks  Geary  at  Wau- 
hatchie,  431 ;  sent  to  East  Tennessee,  434, 
437,  438,  441 ,  calls  for  reinforcements,  442; 
his  absence  cripples  Bragg,  446, 455;  check 
ed  at  Campbell's  Station,  456,  457;  attacks 
Fort  Sanders,  458,  460  ;  moves  east,  461, 
467. 

Loriug,  General  (0.),  284,  297,  307. 

Lowe,  Mr.  (U.),  152. 

Lowery,  General  (C.),  472. 

Lyons,  Lord  (British),  18. 

Lytle,  William  H.,  Gen.  (U.),  407,  409. 

MACDONALD,  MAJOR  (C.),  348. 

Magruder,  John  B.,  Gen.  (C.),  36. 

Mahone,  General  (C.),  156,  259. 

Maine  Regiment  (U.),  First,  179;  Fourth,  243, 
245;  Ninth,  338,  341,  345;  Sixteenth,  213; 
Twentieth,  247. 

Mallon's  brigade  (U.),  464. 

Manigault's  brigade  (C.),  417. 

Mann,  Dudley  (C.),  476. 

Mason,  John  M.  (C.),  appointed  Minister  to 
England,  and  seizure,  20 ;  his  release  de 
manded  by  England,  24 ;  surrendered  to 
England,  26  ;  in  England,  27,  123 ;  writes 
to  Mr  Benjamin,  165,  330,  331 ;  states  the 
opposition  to  slavery  in  England,  475,  477. 

Massachusetts  Regiment  (U.),  First,  143, 144, 
234;  Second,  150,  261;  Twelfth,  204,  215; 
Thirteenth,  213,  215,  Nineteenth,  276,  464; 
Twenty -first,  457;  Twenty  -  fourth,  360; 
Twenty-ninth,  459,  460;  Fifty-Fourth,  342, 
344,  345,  346,  349,  350. 

Matthias's  brigade  (U.),  448. 

Maxey,  General  (C.),  68. 

Maximilian,  Emperor  of  Mexico,  30,  32, 199, 
474 

Maynard,  Horace  (U.),  368. 

Me  Arthur,  John,  Gen.  (U.),  292,  293. 

McClellan,  George  B,  Gen.  (U.),  87,135,168, 
185,  325. 

McClernand,  John  A.,  Gen.  (U.),  40,  57,  67, 
73,  289,  290,  292,  293. 

McCook,  Daniel,  Gen.  (U.),  390,  392,  395, 396, 
397,  398,  399, 405,  407, 408, 409, 413, 415, 416. 

McDougall's  brigade  (U.),  261. 

McGilvery,  Colonel  (U.),  240,  248,  249,  250, 
254,  265,  277,  331. 

McGowan,  General  (C.),  149, 150, 214,  265. 


Mclntosh,  John  B.,  Col.  (U.),  104,  263. 

McLain,  General  (U.),  138,  139. 

McLaws,  General  (C.),  131, 132, 145, 156, 197, 
235,  236,  269,  391,  401,  457,  460. 

McNair's  brigade  (C.),  297,  398,  417. 

McPherson,  James  B.,  Gen.  (U.),  52,  67,  68, 
286,  289,  290,  292,  293,  304. 

Meade,  George  G.,  Gen.  (U.),  commands  the 
Fifth  Corps  at  Chancellorsville,  147,  148; 
commander  of  Army  of  the  Potomac,  189; 
addresses  the  army,  190;  orders  the  army 
north,  194;  at  Taneytown,  196;  receives  a 
messenger  from  Gettysburg,  201 ;  desires  to 
avoid  battle,  216;  gives  General  Hancock 
command  at  Gettysburg,  224,  225 ;  arrives 
at  Gettysburg,  228,  229,  231,  232,  233,  234, 
235,  239,  240,  245,  249,  250,  259,  260,  266, 
269,270;  consults  with  officers,  281;  delays 
action,  282;  his  army  mentioned  by  Rich 
mond  paper,  313 ;  England  hears  of  his 
victory,  332;  on  the  Rapidan,  462;  crosses 
the  Rappahannock,  463 ;  at  Centre ville,  465; 
at  Culpeper,  466. 

Meredith,  Solomon,  Gen.  (U.),  203,  205,  206. 
207,  "208,  212,  219. 

Merkle,  Lieutenant  (U.),  213,  217. 

Merritt,  Wesley,  Gen.  (U.),  277. 

Michigan  Regiment  (U.),  Seventeenth,  458; 
Twentieth,  459,  460 ;  Twenty-fourth,  128, 
220. 

Miller,  Captain  (U.),  253. 

Miller,  Josephine  (U.),  234,  237,  250. 

Miller,  Lieut. -col.  (U.),  207. 

Milroy,  Robert  H.,  Gen.  (U.),  174,  175. 

Milton,  Lieutenant  (U.),  248,  249. 

Minnesota  Regiment,  First  (U.),  253,  254,  331, 
464. 

Minty,  Colonel  (U.),  390,  396,  399. 

Mississippi  Regiment  (C.),  Twenty-first,  249. 

Missouri  Regiment  (U.),  Seventh,  292;  Eighth, 
56. 

Montgomery,  Colonel  (C.),  304. 

Moor,  General  (U.),  468. 

Moore's  brigade  (C.),  285. 

Morgan,  General  (U.),  40. 

Morgan,  John  (C.),  328,  329,  330. 

Morris,  Sergeant  (U.),  215. 

Morrow,  Colonel  (U.),  212,  219,  220. 

Morton,  Oliver  P.,  Gov.  of  Indiana  (U.)>  13. 

Mott's  brigade  (U.),  148,  149. 

Mumford,  Colonel  (C.),  168, 178, 179, 180, 184. 

Mysenburg,  Colonel  (U.),  208. 

NAPOLEON,  Louis,  Emperor  of  France,  27 
30, 165, 166, 199,  474. 


INDEX. 


487 


Negley,  James  S.,  Gen.  (U.),  395,  396,  402, 
413, 416. 

Neill's  brigade  (U.),  261. 

New  Hampshire  Regiment  (U.),  Third,  341; 
Seventh,  341. 

New  Jersey  Regiment  (U.),  First,  278;  Third, 
149;  Seventh,  149;  Twelfth,  264. 

New  York  Regiment  (U.),  Second,  178,  179; 
Fourth,  107,  179 ;  Fifth,  226  ;  Sixth,  140 ; 
Seventh,  327;  Eleventh,  326;  Fourteenth, 
206,208;  Forty-second,  464;  Forty-seventh, 
206  ;  Forty  -  eighth,  341,  345,  349 ;  Sixty- 
eighth,  137;  Seventy  -  sixth,  206;  Seventy- 
ninth,  458;  Eighty -second,  464;  Eighty- 
ninth,!^;  Ninety-fourth,  213;  Ninety-fifth, 
206,  208;  Ninety  -  seventh,  208,  223;  One 
Hundredth, 341 ;  One  Hundred  and  Fourth, 
213,  215 ;  One  Hundred  and  Nineteenth, 
139;  One  Hundred  and  Forty-seventh,  207; 
One  Hundred  and  Fifty-fourth,  223;  One 
Hundred  and  Fifty-seventh,  140. 

Newman,  Captain  (U.),  12. 

Newman,  Sergeant  (U.),  201,  205. 

Newspapers:  Charleston  Courier  (C.),  7; 
Charleston  Mercury  (C.),7;  Knoxmlle  Whig 
(U.),  368;  London  Illustrated  News,  116, 
119  ;  London  Times,  96,  123  ;  New  Orleans 
Picayune  (C.),  95;  New  York  Tribune  (U.), 
326;  Richmond  Examiner  (C.),  160;  Rich 
mond  Whig  (C.),  8 ;  London  Saturday  Re 
view,  123. 

Newton,  John,  Gen.  (U.),  155, 156. 

Nichols's  brigade  (C.),  149, 152. 

North  Carolina  Regiment  (C.),  Second,  226; 
Fourth,  180;  Fifth,  180;  Fifty- first,  348; 
Fifty-fifth,  207. 

O'BRIEN,  COLONEL  (U.),  326. 

Ohio  Regiment  (U.),  Sixth,  107;  Eighth,  276; 
Eleventh,  213;  Twenty-fifth,  139,217;  Six 
ty-second,  341;  Sixty-seventh,  341;  Seven 
ty  -  third,  139 ;  Seventy  -  fifth,  217 ;  Eighty- 
second,  140;  One  Hundred  and  Seventh, 
217,  258. 

O'Neal's  brigade  (C.),  214,  215,  259. 

Ord,  Edward  O.,  Gen.  (U.),  304,  307. 

O'Rorke,  Colonel  (U.),  245,  247. 

Osborne,  Major  (U.),  233,  271,  272. 

Osterhaus's  division  (U.),  69, 73,  294,  421, 441, 
445,  448,  452. 

PAINE'S  division  (U.),  308. 

Palmer,  John  M.,  Gen.  (U.),  396,  397,  402, 

405,  407,  413,  417,  418,  427,  442. 
Palmerston,  Lord  (British),  475. 


Parke,  John  G.,  Gen.  (U.),  297,  307. 

Parke,  Captain  (C.),  244. 

Paul,  Gabriel  R.,  Gen.  (U.),  213,  215,  220. 

Paxon,  Captain  (U.),  349. 

Paxton's  brigade  (C.),  36,  152. 

Payne,  Colonel  (C.),  226. 

Peace  Democracy,  57,  321. 

Peck,  J.  J.,  Gen.  (U.),  110,  111,  128. 

Pemberton,  JohnC.,  Gen.  (C.),  atVicksburg, 
2;  learns  Grant's  movements,  54;  his  army 
scattered,  65;  sends  reinforcements  to  Jack 
son  and  Port  Gibson,  66 ;  receives  messages 
from  Jefferson  Davis,  67 ;  consults  with  of 
ficers,  69  ;  at  Champion  Hills,  70,  73  ;  his 
messenger  captured,  81 ;  Mr.  Sheddon  plans 
his  relief,  161;  returns  to  Vicksburg,  283; 
messages  to  and  from  Johnston,  284,  285; 
losses  from  previous  engagements,  286; 
Grant's  estimate  of  his  strength,  289 ;  lacks 
ammunition,  290 ;  probable  loss,  294 ;  re 
ceives  message  from  Johnston,  298  ;  re 
ceives  a  letter  from  his  soldiers,  303;  sur 
renders  Vicksburg  and  troops,  304,  307. 

Fender,  W.  D.,  Gen.  (C.),  143,  197,  202,  203, 
205,  214,  219,  264. 

Pendleton,  Wm.  N.,  Gen.  (C.),  155, 166. 

Pennsylvania  Regiment  (U.),  Third,  104, 108; 
Fourth,  104;  Eighth,  140;  Eleventh,  213; 
Sixteenth,  104  ;  Seventeenth,  140  ;  Forty- 
eighth,  457;  Fifty-sixth,  206;  Sixty-ninth, 

275,  276;  Seventy-first,  275,  276;  Seventy- 
sixth,  338,  341,  345;   Eighty -eighth,  215; 
One  Hundred  and  Eighteenth,  249 ;  One 
Hundred  and  Forty-ninth,  220;  One  Hun 
dred  and  Fiftieth,  204;  One  Hundred  and 
Fifty-third,  137. 

Perkins,  Chief -justice  of  Indiana,  12. 
Perrin's  brigade  (C.),  219. 
Perry's  brigade  (C.),  265,  276,  277. 
Pettigrew's  brigade  (C.),  196,  214,  265,  271, 

276,  277,  282. 
Phelps,  General  (U.),  96. 

Pickett,  George  E.,  Gen.  (C.),  moves  to  Suf 
folk  under  Longstreet,  109,  111 ;  guards 
supplies  at  Chambersburg,  197,  231  ;  ar 
rives  at  Gettysburg,  259;  his  troops  select 
ed  to  attack  Meade,  260,  262,  264,  265,  269, 
270;  in  battle,  271,  272,  275;  defeated,  276, 
278,  279,  280,  281 ;  his  defeat  the  ebb-tjde 
of  the  Confederacy,  332. 

Pierce,  Franklin,  ex-President,  320. 

Pio  Nono,  Pope,  476. 

Pleasonton,  Alfred,  Gen.  (U.),  129,  140,  143, 
167,  169,  170,  178,  180,  183,  184,  188,  281, 
463. 


488 


INDEX. 


Polk,  Leonidas,  Gen.  (C.),  advises  retreat 
from  Murfreesboro,  385  ;  at  Shelbyville, 
386  ;  blamed  by  Bragg,  396  ;  at  Chicka- 
rnauga,  401,  405 ;  does  not  attack  as  or 
dered,  406 ;  his  troops  dispirited,  415,  416 ; 
arrested  by  Bragg,  420,  424. 

Porter,  David  D.,  Admiral  (U.),  48,  51,  54,  55, 
62,  290. 

Posey's  brigade  (C.),  259,  265,  465. 

Postles,  Captain  (U.),  264. 

Preston's  division  (C.),  402,  405,  408,  409. 

Proclamation  of  Emancipation,  8,  94,  120, 
124,  163,  298. 

Proclamation  of  Martial  Law,  11. 

Pugel,  Lieutenant  (U.),  201. 

Putnam/Colonel  (U.),  341,  345,  347. 

QUANTRELL,  W.  C.  (C.),  381,  382,  383. 
Quinby's  brigade  (U.),  292,  293. 

RAMSEUR,  S.  D.,  Gen.  (C.),  214. 

Randolph,  Captain  (U.),  134. 

Ransom,  T.  E.  G.,  Gen.  (U.),  292,  293. 

Raum,  G.B.,Gen.  (U.),  448. 

Reed,  Lieutenant  (C.),  351,  352. 

Regulars,  U.  S.,  246;  First,  107;  Fifth,  107. 

Remington,  Major  (U.),  188. 

Rerishaw,  Commodore  (U.),  36,  39 

Revere,  General  (U.),  149. 

Reynolds,  John  F.,  Gen.  (U.),  147,  188,  195, 

196,  201,  202,  203,  205,  206,  207,  209,  212. 
Reynolds,  Joseph  J.,  Gen.  (U.),  402,  405,  407, 

408,  413,  415,  417. 
Reynolds's  brigade  (C.),  285,  451. 
Rhett,  Colonel  (C.),  356. 
Rhind,  Captain,  Navy  (U.),  93. 
Rhode  Island  Regiment  (U.),  First,  107, 178, 

180,  183;  Fourth,  107. 
Richards,  Doctor  (U.),  186. 
Richards,  Miss  (U.),  186. 
Rickett,  General  (C.),  94,  359. 
Robbins,  Color-sergeant  (U.),  183. 
Robertson,  Frank,  Captain  (C.),  179. 
Robertson,  General  (C.),  180,  183,  193,  195, 

243,  245,  247. 
Robinson's  brigade  (U.),  208,  210,  213,  219, 

220,  264. 

Rodes,  Lieutenant  (U.),  201. 
Rodes's  division  (C.),  132,  136, 173, 185, 192, 

197,  215,  216,  220,  264,  265. 
Rodgers,  Captain,  Navy  (U.),  93. 
Roebuck,  Mr.  (British),  164,  165,  166,  168, 

330,  332. 

Rosecrans,  William  S.,  Gen.  (U.),  his  army 
damaged  by  Confederate  cavalry,  128;  pre 


pares  to  attack  Bragg  at  Tullahoma,  160, 
161;  sends  reinforcements  to  Grant,  297; 
forces  Bragg  from  Tennessee,  316  ;  at 
Murfreesboro,  328,  385;  advances  towards 
Chattanooga,  378  ;  drives  Bragg  to  Chat 
tanooga,  386,  389;  forces  him  farther  on, 
390  ;  misled  by  Halleck's  despatches,  392; 
his  army  scattered,  395,  396,  397  ;  rein 
forced  by  Granger,  398;  concentrates  his 
army,  397:  headquarters  at  Chickamauga, 
401 ;  attacked  by  Bragg,  402 ;  prepares  for 
second  day's  fight,  405;  in  battle,  407,  408, 
410,  413  ;  driven  towards  Rossville,  414, 
415  ;  rides  to  Chattanooga,  416,  417,  418, 
419,  420 ;  succeeded  by  Thomas,  422  ;  ex 
plains  the  situation  to  Grant,  425,  426. 

Rost,  P.  S.  (C.),  16. 

Rowley's  brigade  (U.),  208,  210,  212,  219. 

Ruffin,  Colonel  (C.),  463. 

Ruger,  General  (U.),  150,  260,  261. 

Russell,  Lord  John  (British),  17, 18,  23, 24,  25, 
26,  32,  33,  363,  364. 

Russell's  brigade  (U.),  156,  466. 

SANDERS,  GENERAL  (U.),  457. 

Scales's  brigade  (C.),  214,  219,  265. 

Scammon,  General  (U.),  468. 

Scheuck,  General  (U.),  174, 175,  178. 

Schimmelpfennig,  General  (U.),  139,  213,  219, 
223. 

Schofield,  General  (U.),  297. 

Schurz,  General  (U.),  135, 139,  209,  210,  216, 
431. 

Scott,  Thomas  A.,  Gen.  (U.),  421. 

Seddon,  Secretary  (C.),  161. 

Sedgwick,  General  (U.),  129,  131,  135,  147, 
148,  152,  155,  157,  158,  196,  281,  466. 

Semmes,  Raphael  (C.),  34,  35,  245,  247,  248. 

Serrell,  Colonel  (U.),  359. 

Seward,  William  E.  (U.),  14,  20,  26. 

Seymour,  General  (U.),  341,  343,  344,  345, 
347,  348. 

Seymour,  Horatio,  Governor  (U.),  319,  322. 
326. 

Shackelford,  General  (U.),  381. 

Shaler,  General  (U.),  155,  261. 

Shaw,  Colonel  (U.),  342,  344,  345,  346,  349, 
350. 

Sheffield,  Colonel  (C.),  243. 

Sheridan,  General  (U.),  at  Chickamauga, 
402,  408,  409,  415,  416,  41'*,  418;  at  Look 
out  Mountain,  442;  at  Missionary  Ridge, 
449,  450,  451. 

Sherman,  Thomas  W.  (U.),  95,  308. 

Sherman,  William  T.  (U.),  takes  Fort  Hind- 


INDEX. 


489 


man,  40,  43;  receives  message  from  Admi 
ral  Porter,  55;  joins  Porter,  56;  his  advice 
rejected  by  Grant,  58;  threatens  Haines's 
Bluff,  65;  moves  to  Hard  Times,  66;  en 
ters  Jackson,  68;  commands  the  Fifteenth 
Corps,  67;  at  Jackson,  68  ;  closes  roads 
north-east  of  Vicksburg,  285,  286;  attacks 
the  city, 289,291, 293;  turns  Johnston  back, 
307  ;  at  Jackson,  308  ;  takes  Jackson  and 
goes  west,  312;  takes  possession  of  Cum 
berland  Gap,  381 ;  reaches  Chattanooga, 433, 
438  ;  crosses  the  creek,  441  ;  attacks  Mis 
sionary  Ridge,  442,  446,  448,  449;  sent  to 
Burnside's  aid  at  Knoxville,  455,  458,  460, 
461. 

Ships  :  Achilles  (U.),  120 ;  Agrippina  (C.), 
33;  Alabama  (C.),  34,  39,  120,  124, 164,  199; 
Albatross  (U.),  43,  48;  Alert  (U.),  112;  Al 
fred  Partridge  (C.),  351;  Archer  (U.),  351, 
352  ;  Augusta  (U.),  87  ;  Bahama  (C.),  33  ; 
Barney  (U.),  112;  Bayou  City  (C.),  36; 
Benton  (U.),  62,  290  ;  Brooklyn  (U.),  40  ; 
Calefr  Cushing  (U.),  351,  352;  Carondelet 
(U.),  62,  290  ;  Catskill  (U.),  88,  92,  93;  Ce 
res  (U.),  109;  Chattanooga  (U.),  432;  Chi- 
cora  (C.),  83,  87;  Cincinnati  (U.),  299,  300; 
City  of  Vicksburg  (C.),  48;  Clarence  (U.), 
351;  Clifton  (U.),  39;  Coeur  de  Lion  (U.), 
112  ;  Corypheus  (U.),  36  ;  Enrica  (B.),  32  ; 
Essex  (U.),  44;  Fingal  (C.),  352,  353;  Flor 
ida  (C.),  32,120,124,164,351;  Forest  Queen 
(U.),62;  Genesee  (U.),  43,  47;  George  Gris- 
wold  (U.),  120  ;  Gordon  (B.),  20  ;  Harriet 
Lane  (U.),  36;  Hartford  (U.),  43,  44,  48,  95; 
Hatteras  (U.),  39;  Henry  Clay  (U.),  62,  65; 
Hercules  (B.),  33;  Hetzel  (U.),  109;  Hou- 
satonic(U.),  87;  Hunchback  (U.),  109;  Im 
perial  (U.),  312;  Indianola  (U.),  48,  51;  Ja 
cob  Bell  (B.),  124,  Keokuk  (U.),  88,  92, 
93  ;  Keystone  State  (U.),  87;  Kineo  (U.), 
43,  47;  Lafayette  (U.),  62;  Louisville  (U.), 
62;  Memphis  (U.),  87;  Mercedita  (U.),  84; 
Merrimac  (C.),  83, 110;  Mississippi  (U.),  44, 
48 ;  Monarch  (U.),  40 ;  Monitor  (U. ),  83, 1 10 ; 
Mouougahela  (U.),  43,  47  ;  Montauk  (U.), 
83,  87,  92;  Mound  City  (U.),  62,  290; 
Mount  Washington  (U.),H2,  Nahant(IL), 
88,  92,  93,  352  Nantucket  (U.),  88,  92; 
Nashville  (C.),  87;  Neptune  (C),  36,  39; 
New  Ironsides  (U.),  83,  88,  92,  94,  338,  342, 
355,  360,  363  ;  Ocmulgee  (U.),  34  ;  Owasco 
(U.),  36,  39  ;  Palmetto  State  (C.),  83,  84, 
87;  Passaic  (U.),  88,  92;  Patapsco  (U.),  88, 
92,  93;  Pittsburg  (U.),  62;  Price  (U.),  62; 
Princess  Royal  (B.),  84;  Quaker  City  (U.), 


87;  Queen  of  the  West  (U.J,  48,  51 ;  Rich 
mond  (U. ),  43, 47 ;  Rinaldo  (B. ),  26 ;  Sachem 
(U.),  36;  San  Jacinto  (U.),  20,  21  ;  Silver 
Wave  (U.),  55,  62;  Star  of  the  West  (U.), 
333;  Starlight  (U.),  34;  Stepping  Stones 
(U.),  112 ;  Sumter  (C.),  34 ;  Tacony  (U.), 
351 ;  Trent  (B.),  20  ;  Tuscumbia  (U.),  62, 
290;  Webb  (C.),  48;  Weehawken  (U.),  88, 
91,  93,  352,  363;  Westfield  (U.),  39;  Whist 
ling  Wind  (U.),  351. 

Shoup,  General  (C.),  285. 

Sickles,  General  (U.),  131,  133,  134, 140,  141, 
145,  146,  148,  150,  151,  196,  212,  234,  235, 
236,  239,  240,  245,  248,  249. 

Slaves,  enlistment  of,  94,  95,  96. 

Slidell,  John  (C.),  appointed  Minister  to 
France,  and  seized,  20;  England  demands 
his  release,  24;  surrendered  to  England,  26; 
writes  to  Mr.  Benjamin,  27, 166,  331 ;  inter 
views  Napoleon,  31,  165;  states  the  opposi 
tion  to  slavery  in  France,  476,  477. 

Slocum,  General  (U.),  129,  133,  142,  151,  189, 
196,  212,  214,  216, 228, 229,  250,  261, 262, 421. 

Smith,  A.  J.  (U.),  69,  73. 

Smith,  General  (C.),  219,  259,  304. 

Smith,  Giles  A.  (U.),  55,  291,  293,  441. 
!  Smith,  J.  E.  (U.),  70,  292,  448. 

Smith,  Kirby(U.),  291. 
|  Smith,  Morgan  L.  (U.),  448. 
'  Smith,  W.  S.  (U.),  297,  307. 

Smith,  William  F.  (U.),  425,  428,  441. 

Smyth's  brigade  (U.),  264,  276. 
,  Spence,  James  (British),  164, 165. 

Spinola,  General  (U.),  109. 

Sprague,  Governor  (U.),  96. 

Stannard's  brigade  (U.),  254,  264,  276. 
I  Stan  ton,  Edwin  M.  (U.),  421,  422. 
!  Steedman,  General  (U.),  399,  415,  416,  417, 
418. 

Steele,  General  (U.),  66. 

Steele's  division  (U.),  291,  293,  307. 

Steinwehr,  General  (U.),  135,  210,  212. 
;  Stevens,  Alexander  H.  (C.),  475. 

Stevens,  Colonel  (U.),  150,  213. 

Stevenson,  General  (C.),  285,  300,  304,  431, 
432,  442,  445,  446. 

Stevenson,  General  (U.),  68,  70,  73,  292  341, 
348. 

Stewart's  division  (C.),  402,  407,  408,  409,  448, 
452. 

Stone's  brigade  (U.),  212. 

Stoneman,  General  (U.),  128,  129,  140,  159. 

Stoughton,  Colonel  (U.),  243,  247. 

Strong,  General  (U.),  334,  337,  338,  341,  344, 
345,  346,  347,  348,  349. 


490 


INDEX. 


Stuart,  J.  E.  B.  (C.),  at  Chancellorsville,  132, 
133,  136;  commander  of  Jackson's  troops, 
145,  147,  148,  149,  151 ;  left  to  feign  bat 
tle  with  Hooker,  158;  cavalry  command 
er,  166;  reviews  his  troops,  168;  at  Brandy 
Station,  169,  170,  173,  174;  sends  orders  to 
Mumf ord,  179 ;  defeated  at  Middleburg  and 
Aldie,183,184;  instructions  from  Lee,  185; 
crosses  the  Potomac,  188 ;  captures  a  wagon- 
train,  190;  his  position  unknown  to  Lee, 
192, 194, 210 ;  censured  by  Southern  writers, 
193;  engages  with  Kilpatrick  at  Hanover, 
226 ;  arrives  at  Gettysburg,  259 ;  his  part  in 
the  battle,  262,  263,  278;  meets  Kilpatrick 
at  Williamsport,  281 ;  his  signals  read  in 
the  Union  army,  462 ;  engages  in  a  skirmish 
near  Catlett's  Station,  463. 

Suhrer,  Lieutenant  (U.),  258. 

Sumner's  corps  (U.),  350. 

Sweitzer's  brigade  (U.),  246. 

Sykes,  General  (U.),  131, 148, 196, 245,  281, 463. 

TALTAFERRO,  GENERAL  (C.),  344. 

Taney,  Roger  B.,  343. 

Tennessee  Regiment,  First  (C.),  207,  452. 

Terry,  General  (U.),  334,  338,  343. 

Thoburn's  brigade  (U.),  468. 

Thomas,  General  (C.),  214,  265. 

Thomas,  George  H.  (U.),  390,  392,  395,  396, 
397,  398,  399,  400,  401,  402,  405,  406,  407, 
408,  409,  413,  414,  415,  416,  417,  418,  419, 
422,  425,  437,  445,  446,  451,  458. 

Thomas,  Lieutenant  (U. ),  345. 

Thomas's  battery  (U.),  253,  254. 

Thompson,  Lieutenant-colonel  (U.),  183. 

Thompson's  brigade  (C.),  263. 

Thomson,  Major  (U.),  142. 

Tilghman,  General  (C.),  73. 

Tilton's  brigade  (U.),  246,  249. 

Todd,  Major  (C.),  185. 

Torbet's  brigade  (U.),  156. 

Tracy,  General  (C.),  66. 

Trimble,  General  (C.),  264. 

Turchin's  brigade  (U.),  457. 

Turner  (C.),  452. 

Tuttle,  General  (U.),  66,  291,  293. 

Tyler,  Robert  (C.),  265,  275,  276. 

ULMER,  LIEUTENANT  (U.),  207. 
Upton,  General  (U.),  466. 

VALLANDIGHAM,  Mr.  (C.),  162,  318. 
Van  Cleve's  division  (U.),  396,  397,  402,  405. 
Vaughn,  General  (C.),  74,  285,  460. 
Venable,  Colonel  (C.),  230. 


Viele,  General  (U.),  110,  113. 

Vincent,  General  (U.),  184,  245,  247,  331. 

Virginia  Cavalry,  Sixth  (C.),  169. 

Virginia  Regiment  (C.),  First,  108, 178;  Sec 
ond,  108,  178  ;  Third,  108,  178  ;  Fourth, 
108,  178;  Fifth,  108,  178;  Ninth,  184;  Fif 
ty-third,  265.  . 

Von  Amsberg,  General  (U.),  213,  214. 

Von  Fitsh,  Captain  (U.),  135. 

Von  Gilsa's  brigade  (U.),  135,  213,  217,  219. 

WADSWORTH'S  division  (U.),  202,  203,  206, 

207,  208,  216. 

Wagner,  Sergeant  (U.),  446. 
Wagner's  brigade  (U.),  390,  419,  450,  451. 
Wainwright,  Captain,  Navy  (U.),  39. 
Wainwright,  Colonel  (U.),  151. 
Walker,  Major  (C.),  148. 
Walker,  W.  L.  C.,  Gen.  (C.),  67,  68,  401,  402, 

405,  407,  413,  446,  464. 
Walworth's  brigade  (U.),  407,  409. 
Ward,  Colonel  (U.),  112. 
Ward's  brigade  (U.),  145,  240,  243,  S44,  245, 

246,  247. 
Warren,  General  (U.),  131, 145,  155,  228,  229, 

245,  463,  464,  465. 
Washburne,  General  (U.),  297. 
Washington  Artillery  (C.),  269. 
Washington,  Captain  (U.),  289. 
Waul,  General  (C.),  285. 
Webb's  brigade  (U.),  275,  464. 
Weed,  Captain  (U.),  151,  247. 
Weitzel,  General  (U.),  308. 
Wells,  Colonel  (U.),  468. 
Wells,  Lieutenant  (U.),  140. 
Wheaton's  brigade  (U.),  261. 
Wheelock,  Colonel  (U.),  223. 
Wherum,  Adjutant  (U.),  215. 
Whipple's  division  (U.),  134, 142, 147, 148. 
Whitaker,  Lieutenant  (U.),  248,  249. 
Whitaker's  brigade  (U.),  415,  416,  417. 
White's  division  (U.),  457. 
Whittier,  Lieutenant  (U.),  258. 
Wickliffe,  Mr.,  95. 
Wilbowen,  Captain  (C.),  143. 
Wilcox,  Gen.  (C.),  155,  250,  253,  265,  276,  277. 
Wilder,  General  (U.),  390,  396,  399,  401. 
Wilkes,  C.  H.,  Commodore  (U.),  20,  21,  26. 
Wilkeson,  Lieutenant  (U.),  213,  217,  218. 
Willard,  Captain  (U.),  345. 
Willard,  General  (U.),  250,  331. 
Williams,  General  (U.),  134. 
Williams's  division  (U.),  148,  149, 150. 
Willich's  brigade  (U.),  450,  451. 
Wilson,  Captain  (U.),  446. 


INDEX. 


491 


Wisconsin  Regiment  (U.),  Second,  206,  208; 

Third,  150;  Sixth,  208;  Twenty-sixth,  139, 

140. 

Withers,  General  (C.),  385. 
Wofford's  brigade  (C.),  244,  245,  248,  249. 
Wood,  Fernando,  162. 
Wood,  General  (C.),  407. 
Wood,  General  (U.),  395,  396,  397,  399,  402, 

407,  408,  413,  415,  416,  417,  418,  442,  445, 

449,  450. 


Wood,  William  B.,  Colonel  (C.),  370,  372. 
Woods,  Sergeant  (U.),  446. 
Worden,  Captain,  Navy  (U.),  87. 
Wright's  brigade  (C.),  132,  265. 
Wyndham,  Colonel  (U.),  130, 170. 

YANCY,  WILLIAM  L.  (C.),  16. 
Young,  Adjutant  (U.),  258. 

ZOOK,  General  (U.),  246. 


THE  END, 


1 


